Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 29.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,982 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $2,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,824,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,110,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 25,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,346,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 42,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,964,000 after acquiring an additional 5,152 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC raised its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 104.7% in the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 3,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 2,030 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 52,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,971,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Robin Leopold sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $308,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,130,438.84. This represents a 2.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 54,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,698,459.65. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 76,848 shares of company stock worth $19,987,908 over the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on JPM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $273.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $269.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Baird R W upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.83.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:JPM opened at $210.09 on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 12-month low of $179.20 and a 12-month high of $280.25. The firm has a market cap of $587.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $254.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

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

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is a boost from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s payout ratio is currently 28.37%.

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.