Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) bought $26.6 million worth of his own company's stock, and the timing couldn't
have been better.
According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan's stock
bottomed on that day and has since returned more than 25 percent. The 500,000 shares Dimon bought are now worth north $33 million;
the stock is trading near the highest level it has seen in a year.
JPMorgan's stock hit a 52-week high of $69.03 in November, and shares were trading at around $67.50 early Thursday morning.
Dimon bought shares of the company he runs because he believed it was cheap and was hard hit amid a worldwide decline in stocks
that plagued the first few months of the year.
Related Link: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon
Bought $26 Million Of Company's Stock
The New York
Times said in February that Dimon's purchase may serve as a "recognition" that shares of financial companies have become
"relatively cheap." The publication's assessment wasn't entire accurately, as Dimon's purchase helped boost the stock higher by 8
percent and haven't looked back since.
However, many of JPMorgan's international banking peers have failed to offer investors a similar return. Bloomberg noted that
Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp
(NYSE: BAC), Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:
CS) and Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE: DB) were "also struggling at the time," but "not all of them have seen the same
type of comeback."
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