Morgan suspends share buybacks

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $34 (New York symbol JPM; Income Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $129.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jpmorganchase.com) recently announced a $2-billion loss on complex hedging contracts that it uses to cut the risk on corporate bonds it holds. This unexpected trading loss has prompted the bank to suspend its plan to repurchase $15 billion of its shares by March 31, 2013. However, it will continue to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.30 a share, for an annualized yield of 3.5%. J.P. Morgan Chase is still a hold. hold…