JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Shares Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) traded up 1.6% during trading on Thursday 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 $232.51 and last traded at $233.31. 2,439,177 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 9,587,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.61.

JPM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $285.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research raised JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $269.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.67.

Insider Transactions at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In other news, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.03, for a total value of $1,055,312.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,400,164.91. This trade represents a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Robin Leopold sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $308,650.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,127 shares in the company, valued at $12,130,438.84. This trade represents a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,545 shares of company stock worth $19,149,144 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JPM. Disciplined Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter worth $217,000. LGT Group Foundation raised its holdings 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 valued at $126,040,000 after acquiring an additional 14,300 shares in the last quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 43,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,483,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375 shares during the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 1,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 7.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $645.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.74, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.59.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $43.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.