Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Call Options (NYSE:JPM)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 133,265 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the typical daily volume of 76,931 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In related news, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 3,303 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.94, for a total transaction of $838,763.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 47,620 shares in the company, valued at $12,092,622.80. The trade was a 6.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 0.4% in the second quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 21,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.7% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hardin Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,378,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.2% in the second quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,341,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JPM. UBS Group upped their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $276.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $304.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $251.78.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Performance

Shares of JPM stock opened at $259.46 on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52 week low of $165.24 and a 52 week high of $260.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $243.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $730.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.78. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 19.64% and a return on equity of 16.71%. The business had revenue of $42.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 17.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 6th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s payout ratio is 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.