JP Morgan Maintains Overweight, PT of $49 on Green Dot

In a published note, JP Morgan reiterates its Overweight rating and price target of $49 per share on Green Dot Corporation GDOT as the company was approved to acquire Bonneville Bancorp, thus becoming a bank holding entity. JPM notes, “We believe the battleground for providing financial services will increasingly move outside the bank branch, and Green Dot has the potential to be the next-generation bank. Becoming a bank would yield Green Dot more freedom to offer bank products without the stigma or high operating cost of a traditional bank (leveraging its 55k retailers as branch equivalents), putting Green Dot in the enviable position of not only empowering the underserved, but any consumer seeking low-cost transactional banking services nationwide.” GDOT closed up 1.92 percent at $30.19 per share on Friday.