JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Increases Dividend to $1.40 Per Share

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. This is a 12.0% increase from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a payout ratio of 24.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect JPMorgan Chase & Co. to earn $19.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.7%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:JPM opened at $235.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $257.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $239.11. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52 week low of $179.20 and a 52 week high of $280.25. The company has a market capitalization of $657.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.88.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.78. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 20.96%. The firm had revenue of $42.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on JPM shares. Baird R W upgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.94, for a total value of $838,763.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 47,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,092,622.80. This trade represents a 6.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Troy L. Rohrbaugh sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.84, for a total value of $10,119,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 158,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,737,529.04. This trade represents a 19.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,326 shares of company stock valued at $12,448,445 over the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 48,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,841 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $11,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research.