CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.15

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.15 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, June 25th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%.

CME Group has increased its dividend 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 46.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $211.84 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $213.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. CME Group has a 52 week low of $175.73 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The company has a market capitalization of $76.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CME Group news, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 40,000 shares of CME Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.91, for a total value of $8,436,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,226,934.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on CME Group from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus raised their price objective on CME Group from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $210.00 target price (down previously from $235.00) on shares of CME Group in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on CME Group from $226.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CME Group from $198.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $217.80.

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.