Morgan just gave investors a raise

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $161 is a buy. The bank (New York symbol JPM; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.1 billion; Market cap: $499.1 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.jpmorganchase.com) recently passed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest stress test, which measures how financial firms would cope with a jump in unemployment, falling stock prices and other unfavourable developments. As a result, Morgan is now raising your quarterly dividend by 11.1%. Starting with the 2021 third quarter payment, investors receive $1.00 a share instead of $0.90. The new annual rate of $4.00 yields 2.5%. The bank is also buying back its shares. In the first half of 2021, it repurchased 74.2 million shares at a total cost of $11.2 billion. Morgan still has $18.8 billion remaining under its current buyback authorization. J.P. Morgan Chase is a buy. buy…