J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was upgraded Monday to outperform from market perform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which cited a discounted valuation despite solid profitability measures and on of the strongest balance sheets in the industry. Analyst Christopher Mutascio said he is also upbeat about the banking giant’s high dividend yield–2.6%, compared with 2.1% for the S&P 500–in a low interest rate environment. He said an eventual rise in interest rates should also benefit the bank. Mutascio said JPMorgan is now the only bank of the 11 he covers that carries an outperform rating. His stock price target of $77 is 13% above Friday’s closing price of $67.89. The stock, which tacked on 0.7% in premarket trade, had climbed 8.5% year to date through Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 1.9%.
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