Are Hedge Funds Fond of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)?

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At Insider Monkey, we pore over the filings of more than 700 top investment firms every quarter, a process we have now completed for the latest reporting period. The data we’ve gathered as a result gives us access to a wealth of collective knowledge based on these firms’ portfolio holdings as of September 30. In this article, we will use that wealth of knowledge to determine whether or not JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) makes for a good investment right now.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the fourth quarter and the hedge fund sentiment was unchanged at the end of 2015. The stock was in 100 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of December. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost or drop in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:CHL), The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) to gather more data points.

JPMorgan’s stock has declined by 3.39% in the last 52 weeks amid a broader market sell-off, weak oil prices and investors’ concerns about the slowdown of economic growth around the world, which might affect the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates. Nevertheless, the stock of the US’ largest bank has performed much better than its peers and its management is optimistic about the future. In fact, last month, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon purchased around $26.6 million worth of the bank’s shares, which represents a very bullish signal for investors watching insider trading.

For the last year, JPMorgan posted a record net income of $24.4 billion, which was up by 12% on the year. At the investor day that was held by the bank last month, JPMorgan said that it might have to increase reserves for energy loans by $1.5 billion if oil prices stay around the $25 level for more than 18 months. The total of $1.65 billion that JPMorgan plans to reserve for energy loans is higher than it had been anticipated. At the same time, JPMorgan said that it still plans to reach $30 billion in net income by 2019 and CEO Dimon said that he is still bullish on the US economy, having added that households are benefitting greatly from the lower gasoline prices to increase their spending in other categories.

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