CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.30

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of 1.30 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, September 25th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th.

CME Group has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years. CME Group has a dividend payout ratio of 44.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CME Group to earn $12.83 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 40.5%.

CME Group Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ CME opened at $264.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $249.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. CME Group has a 52 week low of $218.31 and a 52 week high of $329.16.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. CME Group had a net margin of 63.30% and a return on equity of 15.60%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.96 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that CME Group will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Hilda Harris Piell sold 5,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.63, for a total value of $1,752,536.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 27,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,438,860.26. This trade represents a 17.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Terrence A. Duffy sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.51, for a total value of $10,447,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,606,111.30. This trade represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CME Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CME. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CME Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,523,241,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of CME Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $867,313,000. Alphabet Inc. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $769,376,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in CME Group during the second quarter worth approximately $629,771,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in CME Group by 746.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807,491 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.75% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.

The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.