Biggest U.S. bank is a top dividend payer

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $108 (New York symbol JPM; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $345.6 billion; Dividend yield: 3.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.jpmorganchase.com) is the largest banking firm in the U.S., with total assets of $2.7 trillion as of March 31, 2019. The U.S. Federal Reserve requires big banks to pass an annual “stress test” before they can raise their dividends and buy back shares. Expect another dividend increase later this year Morgan easily passed that test in 2018, and raised its quarterly dividend by 42.9% with the October 2018 payment, to $0.80 a share from $0.56. The new annual rate of $3.20 yields 3.0%. The bank’s strong balance sheet should let it increase the dividend again this year. Morgan’s revenue fell 1.6%, from $96.0 billion in 2014 to $94.4 billion in 2015. That’s primarily due to lower gains for its private equity business, along with lower revenue from consumer mortgages. However, revenue rebounded by 2.3% in 2016,…