CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Declares $1.15 Quarterly Dividend

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of 1.15 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%.

CME Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a dividend payout ratio of 46.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CME Group to earn $9.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.8%.

CME Group Price Performance

CME stock opened at $213.61 on Friday. CME Group has a one year low of $175.73 and a one year high of $223.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $213.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 56.84% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that CME Group will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CME Group from $209.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CME Group from $222.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other CME Group news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 7,140 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.35, for a total value of $1,501,899.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,256 shares in the company, valued at $6,153,999.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,226,934.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.