Analysts are surrounding JPM with price-target hikes today
Keeping up with this week's theme of bank stocks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is back in headlines just one day after sharing an upbeat quarterly report. After the close yesterday and first thing this morning, JPM has received no fewer than seven price-target hikes, including one to $151 from $146 at Jefferies, and to $150 from $148 at Evercore ISI. Heading into today, 11 of 15 following firms sport a "hold" or worse rating on JPMorgan stock and the security's average 12-month price target of $139.46 comes just above its current trading levels at $137.35. In simpler terms, today's slew of bull notes was well overdue.
Digging a little deeper, data at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows JPM with a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.84. This ranks in the highest percentile of its annual range, indicating an extreme preference for calls over puts during the past two weeks.
JPMorgan Chase stock has been on a sharp uptrend for years, gaining 35% over the past 12 months alone. A recent trendline of support has emerged at the 30-day moving average as well, pushing the shares' within a chip-shot of its Jan. 2 record high of $141.10.