JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.40 on April 30th

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 paid a dividend of 1.40 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is a 12.0% increase from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has increased its dividend by an average of 8.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a dividend payout ratio of 27.9% meaning 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 $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Down 0.7 %

JPM stock opened at $243.58 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $256.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $241.33. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52-week low of $179.20 and a 52-week high of $280.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $681.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $42.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JPM has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W upgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird raised JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $304.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.83.

Insider Activity

In other JPMorgan Chase & Co. news, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.85, for a total value of $1,153,069.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 54,469 shares in the company, valued at $14,698,459.65. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Troy L. Rohrbaugh sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.02, for a total transaction of $6,175,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 133,381 shares in the company, valued at $32,947,774.62. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,848 shares of company stock valued at $19,987,908 in the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On JPMorgan Chase & Co.

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,841 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $11,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 71.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.