Cozad Asset Management Inc. Raises Holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 380 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $2,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JPM. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,784,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,539,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,043,841 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 34,259.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,499,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $838,865,000 after buying an additional 3,489,314 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 137.8% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,376,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $922,760,000 after buying an additional 2,535,590 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 93.6% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,692,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $567,669,000 after buying an additional 1,301,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,073,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,338,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016,289 shares during the period. 71.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JPM. Robert W. Baird upgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Baird R W upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.89.

Insider Transactions at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In other news, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.03, for a total value of $1,055,312.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 50,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,400,164.91. This represents a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robin Leopold sold 1,250 shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.09, for a total transaction of $337,612.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,377 shares in the company, valued at $13,606,323.93. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,848 shares of company stock worth $19,987,908 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance

JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock opened at $248.23 on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 1 year low of $179.20 and a 1 year high of $280.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $257.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.71. The company has a market cap of $694.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.10.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $4.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $42.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.90 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 earnings per share for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 positive change from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.37%.

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.