JPMorgan Hikes Dividend - Analyst Blog

On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM declared a quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share. This marks a 5.3% hike from the previous payout. The dividend is payable on Jul 31, 2014, to stockholders of record at the close of business on Jul 3, 2014.

Prior to this, the bank paid a dividend of 38 cents per share to shareholders on Apr 30, 2014, the announcement of which was made on Mar 18, 2014. The latest dividend hike is reflective of the Federal Reserve Board's 2014 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) results wherein JPMorgan got the no-objection for its proposed 2014 capital distribution plan.

The hike reflected the bank's commitment to reward shareholders. The Board also authorized the bank to repurchase $6.5 billion of common equity between Apr 1, 2014 and Mar 31, 2015.

JPMorgan had $2.5 trillion in total assets and $204.6 million in common stockholders' equity as of Mar 31, 2014. Before the latest hike, the bank had announced a dividend hike in May 21 last year, when the payout was increased 26.7% to 38 cents per share.  

Similar to JPMorgan, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC raised its quarterly common stock dividend by 9% to 48 cents per share, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. BK announced a 13% raise in its quarterly cash dividend and Comerica Inc. CMA increased the quarterly cash dividend by 5%. All these dividend hikes followed the Fed's approval of the 2014 capital plans of these major regional banks.

At present, JPMorgan has a Zacks Rank # 4 (Sell).