Francis Financial Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Francis Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 45.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the quarter. Francis Financial Inc.’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in JPM. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada bought a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 71.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JPM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KGI Securities began coverage on JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report on Sunday, April 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $285.00 to $284.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $277.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other JPMorgan Chase & Co. news, insider Robin Leopold sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.09, for a total value of $337,612.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,606,323.93. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 6,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.76, for a total transaction of $1,536,908.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 68,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,197,873.08. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,188 shares of company stock worth $33,095,363 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JPM opened at $253.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $704.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.52. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $190.88 and a fifty-two week high of $280.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was 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.