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

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of 1.15 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, September 25th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th.

CME Group has increased its dividend by an average of 9.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 45.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CME Group to earn $9.94 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 46.3%.

CME Group Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CME opened at $220.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 52-week low of $190.70 and a 52-week high of $223.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $203.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.61.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 56.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $212.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of CME Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $187.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on CME Group from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on CME Group from $193.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at CME Group

In other news, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total value of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,399,936.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Bryan T. Durkin sold 7,593 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.59, for a total transaction of $1,629,381.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,607 shares in the company, valued at $11,932,706.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles P. Carey sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.44, for a total transaction of $586,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,399,936.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.