Continental Advisors LLC Cuts Position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Continental Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. comprises approximately 1.2% of Continental Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Continental Advisors LLC’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $2,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JPM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,220,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,161,171,000 after purchasing an additional 876,417 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at $8,310,884,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,841,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,475,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914,049 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,103,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,818,905,000 after purchasing an additional 71,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,401,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,171,298,000 after purchasing an additional 617,164 shares during the last quarter. 71.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JPM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $277.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. KGI Securities initiated coverage on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note on Sunday, April 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $304.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.67.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of JPM stock opened at $228.95 on Tuesday. 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. has a fifty-two week low of $185.98 and a fifty-two week high of $280.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $637.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.22.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $5.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.63 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $45.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.44 EPS. Equities analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 earnings per share for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. This is a positive change from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Troy L. Rohrbaugh sold 37,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.84, for a total transaction of $10,119,000.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.85, for a total transaction of $1,153,069.05. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 73,545 shares of company stock valued at $19,149,144. Company insiders own 0.79% 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. 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.