CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.30

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, December 30th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 11th.

CME Group has a payout ratio of 44.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CME Group to earn $13.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.7%.

CME Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CME stock opened at $307.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. CME Group has a 12-month low of $218.31 and a 12-month high of $329.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $282.60 and its 200 day moving average is $280.66.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.03. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. CME Group’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CME Group will post 12.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CME. TD Cowen lifted their target price on CME Group from $292.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. CLSA set a $367.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised CME Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $226.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CME Group from $315.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.44.

About CME Group

CME Group Inc operates global derivatives marketplaces that provide trading, clearing and settlement services for futures and options contracts. Its products cover major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign currencies, agricultural commodities, energy and metals. The company also provides market data, benchmark information and related services used by financial institutions, corporations, producers, investors and other market participants.

CME Group’s exchange portfolio includes CME, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and COMEX.