Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $14.92 Million Stock Position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Essex Financial Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,115 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. makes up about 0.7% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $14,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 227.1% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Anfield Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on JPM. Wolfe Research lowered shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $209.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $220.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $217.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $217.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.94.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

NYSE:JPM opened at $224.41 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $215.96 and a 200-day moving average of $206.15. The company has a market capitalization of $638.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.11. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52 week low of $137.47 and a 52 week high of $226.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.02 by $0.35. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 20.32% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $43.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 16.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is an increase from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.82%.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). The CCB segment offers deposit, investment and lending products, cash management, and payments and services; mortgage origination and servicing activities; residential mortgages and home equity loans; and credit cards, auto loans, leases, and travel services to consumers and small businesses through bank branches, ATMs, and digital and telephone banking.