CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Increases Dividend to $5.80 Per Share

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a dividend on Thursday, December 5th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of 5.80 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, January 16th. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous dividend of $2.50.

CME Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 9.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 55.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CME Group to earn $10.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.0%.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $239.47 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $231.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.62. The company has a market cap of $86.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 57.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.25 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that CME Group will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total transaction of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,403,279.44. This trade represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares in the company, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock valued at $1,648,071 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on CME Group from $237.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.33.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

CME Group Company Profile

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.