CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Declares Dividend Increase – $5.80 Per Share

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

CME Group has raised its dividend by an average of 9.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. CME Group has a dividend 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 Stock Up 0.6 %

CME opened at $239.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $231.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $86.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 0.56. CME Group has a 1-year low of $190.70 and a 1-year high of $249.02.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.03. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CME Group will post 10.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on CME Group from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on CME Group from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $244.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.33.

CME Group announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at CME Group

In related news, Director Martin J. Gepsman sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.92, for a total transaction of $89,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,587,935.64. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Timothy S. Bitsberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.96, for a total value of $226,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,589 shares in the company, valued at $2,403,279.44. This trade represents a 8.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,274 shares of company stock worth $1,648,071. 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.