CME GROUP INC. (CME) — payout ratio, three ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Financial services · computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 44.8% | The figure most screeners publish. |
| Operating cash flow | 92.0% | Worse than the earnings figure, not better: operating cash flow absorbs working capital — inventory, receivables, payables — that earnings do not. |
| Free cash flow | 93.8% | What is left after maintaining the business. |
Spread between highest and lowest: 49 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $5.00 ÷ diluted EPS $11.16
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $3,933.0m ÷ operating cash flow $4,277.1m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $3,933.0m ÷ (operating cash flow $4,277.1m − capex $83.5m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-26 · accession
0001156375-26-000009
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- DPS $5.00 filed as declared, but dividends paid imply $10.92 — one of the two underlying facts is wrong. The filed per-share figure is used.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.