CME Group hikes dividend by 5.9%

CME Group (CME) will increases its quarterly dividend by 5.9 percent to 90 cents per share in 2021. This follows a dividend hike of 13.3 percent to $0.85 per share in 2020. Last December the company also announced a $2.50 per share special dividend that was paid on January 13, 2021.

The next dividend of $0.90 per share is payable March 25, 2021, to shareholders of record as of March 10, 2021. The regular annualized dividend rate of $3.60 per share yields 1.9% at a stock price of $191.39.

CME Group will now pay an estimated $1.29 billion in dividends to shareholders annually. This compares to a current market cap of almost $69 billion for the company. In the last six years CME announced double digit dividend hikes three times. The 2021 increase just announced is the smallest dividend hike since 2014 by CME Group.

CME Group enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities.The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. With a range of pre- and post-trade products and services underpinning the entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group also offers optimization and reconciliation services through TriOptima, and trade processing services through Traiana.