CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.25

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date 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% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. CME Group has a payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

CME Group stock opened at $244.83 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. CME Group has a twelve month low of $190.70 and a twelve month high of $249.02. The company has a market capitalization of $88.23 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of CME Group from $250.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of CME Group from $260.00 to $256.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of CME Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CME Group from $210.00 to $233.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on CME Group from $227.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CME Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.27.

CME Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.