CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today declared its annual variable dividend, amounting to $2.90 per share. The dividend is payable January 12, 2016, to shareholders of record on December 28, 2015. When CME Group adopted its annual variable dividend structure in February 2012, the intention was to determine the excess cash available at the end of each year, with the level to increase or decrease from year to year based on operating results, potential investment activity and other forms of capital return.
The annual variable dividend of $2.90 per share to be paid in January 2016 totals approximately $977 million. CME Group paid its first annual variable dividend in March 2012. Including today's announced variable dividend and the previously announced regular dividend of $0.50 per share to be paid in December, the company will have paid a total of more than $5.6 billion in quarterly and variable dividends since the beginning of 2012.
