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

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM - Free Report) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,532 shares during the period. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $5,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. 71.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JPM. Bank of America increased 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. Robert W. Baird upgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $269.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, JPMorgan Chase & Co. presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $252.89.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of JPM traded down $5.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $242.97. The company had a trading volume of 11,975,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,343,658. 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 company has a market capitalization of $679.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $257.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $240.54. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52 week low of $179.20 and a 52 week high of $280.25.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.78. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 20.96%. The business had revenue of $42.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 18.1 EPS for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 yield of 2.30%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s payout ratio is 28.37%.

Insider Transactions at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In other JPMorgan Chase & Co. news, COO Jennifer Piepszak sold 4,273 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.85, for a total transaction of $1,153,069.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 54,469 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,698,459.65. This represents a 7.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robin Leopold sold 1,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $308,650.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,130,438.84. This represents a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 76,848 shares of company stock worth $19,987,908. Corporate 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.