Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Reduces Holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. $JPM

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC cut its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 209,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,469 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. makes up approximately 5.8% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $60,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JPM. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 609,867.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 72,897,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,133,630,000 after purchasing an additional 72,885,260 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,801,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,083,723,000 after buying an additional 454,226 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 2.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,548,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,040,469,000 after buying an additional 548,853 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 5.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 18,441,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,523,588,000 after buying an additional 890,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the first quarter valued at $3,972,807,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

NYSE JPM opened at $302.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $831.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.76. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52-week low of $202.16 and a 52-week high of $318.01.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $5.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.83 by $0.24. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 17.18% and a net margin of 20.90%.The firm had revenue of $46.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 6th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on JPM. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $330.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $330.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. KGI Securities upped their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $330.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $322.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Linda Bammann sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $297.94, for a total transaction of $2,830,430.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 82,207 shares in the company, valued at $24,492,753.58. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.