JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Shares Up 0.9% on Analyst Upgrade

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) shares rose 0.9% on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $277.00 to $305.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. traded as high as $234.34 and last traded at $231.79. Approximately 9,553,647 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the average daily volume of 9,616,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.61.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on JPM. KGI Securities assumed coverage on JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report on Sunday, April 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $285.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.67.

Insider Activity at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In other news, CEO Troy L. Rohrbaugh sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.84, for a total value of $10,119,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 158,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,737,529.04. This trade represents a 19.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.85, for a total value of $1,153,069.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 54,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,698,459.65. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,545 shares of company stock worth $19,149,144. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Disciplined Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 525,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,040,000 after acquiring an additional 14,300 shares during the period. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 43,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,483,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375 shares during the period. Jag Capital Management LLC lifted its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,450,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,491,000 after purchasing an additional 319,730 shares in the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $244.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $645.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.63 by $0.44. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The company had revenue of $45.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 earnings per share for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 27.49%.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. It focuses on investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. It operates through the following segments: Consumer and Community Banking (CCB), Commercial and Investment Bank (CIB), Asset and Wealth Management (AWM), and Corporate.