Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 12/7/16, CME Group (NASD: CME), WesBanco Inc (NASD: WSBC), and State Auto Financial Corp. (NASD: STFC) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. CME Group will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.60 on 12/28/16, WesBanco Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.24 on 1/2/17, and State Auto Financial Corp. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.10 on 12/30/16.
As a percentage of CME's recent stock price of $116.91, this dividend works out to approximately 0.51%, so look for shares of CME Group to trade 0.51% lower — all else being equal — when CME shares open for trading on 12/7/16. Similarly, investors should look for WSBC to open 0.60% lower in price and for STFC to open 0.39% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for CME, WSBC, and STFC, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
CME Group (NASD: CME):
In general, dividends are not always predictable, following the ups and downs of company profits over time. Therefore, a good first due diligence step in forming an expectation of annual yield going forward, is looking at the history above, for a sense of stability over time. This can help in judging whether the most recent dividends from these companies are likely to continue. If they do continue, the current estimated yields on annualized basis would be 2.05% for CME Group, 2.39% for WesBanco Inc, and 1.56% for State Auto Financial Corp..
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In Monday trading, CME Group shares are currently up about 1.1%, WesBanco Inc shares are up about 1.1%, and State Auto Financial Corp. shares are up about 1.1% on the day.
