It's dividend payout time at securities market operator CME Group (CME 1.81%). On Wednesday, the company announced that it had declared a new quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, which is to be paid on June 25 to stockholders of record as of June 10.
This amount matches the previous disbursement, which was handed out in March. Previous to that, CME Group had paid $0.85 per share. At $0.90, the company's current dividend yields 1.8% on the most recent closing share price.
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As a business that throws off a lot of cash, CME Group typically has scope for dividend payments. The company is a consistent payer and raiser, typically lifting its distribution near the beginning of every year. Since the start of 2011, the payout has more than tripled from $0.28 per share to the present level.
Depending on its financial performance, the company also dispenses what it terms one "annual variable" dividend at the culmination of each year; the most recent of these payments was $2.50 per share.
Since the financial crisis earlier this century, trading in all types of securities has generally been robust. As a result, CME Group's revenue has risen commensurately; from 2016 to 2020, its annual revenue advanced from nearly $3.6 billion to almost $4.9 billion. And as effectively a middleman for trading in numerous types of securities, profitability has been high, with net income topping $2.1 billion last year.
CME Group investors might be pining for a meatier dividend and a higher yield, though. On Wednesday, they traded the stock down slightly, by 0.6%, while the S&P 500 rose incrementally.
