Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, March 16, 2012

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO., $44.57, New York symbol JPM, has passed the Federal Reserve’s latest “stress test”, which measures how well banks and other financial firms would cope with a sharp jump in unemployment, falling stock prices and other unfavourable economic conditions. As a result, Morgan raised its quarterly dividend by 20.0%, to $0.30 a share from $0.25. The new annual rate of $1.20 yields 2.7%. Morgan also announced that it would buy back $15 billion of its shares. That’s equal to roughly 9% of its $170.1-billion market cap. Morgan will repurchase $12 billion of its stock this year and an additional $3 billion in 2013. The dividend hike and buybacks prompted the stock to jump 9% this week. However, low interest rates continue to hurt the revenue the bank receives on loans. Financial reforms passed by Congress also imposed new restrictions on debit card fees. J.P. Morgan is still a hold. JP Morgan was recently covered in the November 2011 issue of…