CME Group Inc. (CME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.25 on March 26th

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 1.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 26th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15.

CME Group has raised its dividend by an average of 42.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. CME Group has a dividend payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect CME Group to earn $10.33 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 56.1%.

CME Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ CME opened at $244.83 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $235.34 and its 200-day moving average is $223.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57. CME Group has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $249.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CME. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CME Group from $231.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CME Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.27.

CME Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.