CME Group Inc. (CME) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 11th

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 5th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th.

CME Group has a payout ratio of 44.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Down 0.4%

CME Group stock opened at $305.89 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 1-year low of $218.31 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $283.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.79.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $3.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. CME Group had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 63.33%. CME Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CME Group will post 12.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CME. TD Cowen raised their price objective on CME Group from $292.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $286.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CME Group from $337.00 to $359.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. CLSA set a $367.00 price objective on shares of CME Group in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised CME Group from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $367.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $314.44.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group operates a global marketplace for derivatives and other financial products. Through its exchanges—CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX—it offers futures and options contracts tied to interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.

The company also provides clearing and settlement services, market data and related products. Its electronic trading platform, CME Globex, supports access to its markets by participants around the world, alongside its open-outcry and privately negotiated trading services.

CME Group was formed in 2007 through the merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, institutions with roots in the 19th century.