JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $280.25 and last traded at $279.30, with a volume of 7005213 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $279.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $251.78.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $256.12 and a 200-day moving average of $234.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $738.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.12.

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

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Monday, January 6th were given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 6th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Troy L. Rohrbaugh sold 37,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 158,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,737,529.04. This represents a 19.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.85, for a total transaction of $1,153,069.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 54,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,698,459.65. This trade represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,326 shares of company stock worth $12,448,445 in the last quarter. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JPMorgan Chase & Co.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 62,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,075,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the 4th quarter worth $478,000. Aurdan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 4th quarter worth $277,000. Perennial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,704,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the fourth quarter worth about $189,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Company Profile

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.