CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.06, Zacks reports. CME Group had a net margin of 57.34% and a return on equity of 13.39%.

CME Group Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of CME traded up $6.48 on Wednesday, hitting $248.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 597,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,811,555. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $235.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.91. CME Group has a fifty-two week low of $190.70 and a fifty-two week high of $253.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a positive change from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. CME Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on CME Group from $245.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CME Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.27.

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

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.