Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) vs. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Head-To-Head Comparison

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.7% of Bank of America shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of JPMorgan Chase & Co. shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Bank of America shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of JPMorgan Chase & Co. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of America	14.10%	10.29%	0.84%
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	20.96%	16.99%	1.31%

Dividends

Bank of America pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America pays out 32.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. JPMorgan Chase & Co. pays out 28.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Bank of America has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years and JPMorgan Chase & Co. has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co.”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank of America	$101.89 billion	3.19	$27.13 billion	$3.22	13.29
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$169.44 billion	4.14	$58.47 billion	$19.74	12.71

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of America. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank of America	1	5	16	3	2.84
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	0	9	10	0	2.53

Bank of America presently has a consensus target price of $48.45, suggesting a potential upside of 13.19%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a consensus target price of $252.89, suggesting a potential upside of 0.76%. Given Bank of America’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bank of America is more favorable than JPMorgan Chase & Co..

Volatility and Risk

Bank of America has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

JPMorgan Chase & Co. beats Bank of America on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets. The Consumer Banking segment offers traditional and money market savings accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, non-interest and interest-bearing checking accounts, and investment accounts and products; credit and debit cards; residential mortgages, and home equity loans; and direct and indirect loans, such as automotive, recreational vehicle, and consumer personal loans. The GWIM segment provides investment management, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products and services; wealth management solutions; and customized solutions, including specialty asset management services. The Global Banking segment offers lending products and services, including commercial loans, leases, commitment facilities, trade finance, and commercial real estate and asset-based lending; treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, short-term investing options, and merchant services; working capital management solutions; debt and equity underwriting and distribution, and merger-related and other advisory services; and fixed-income and equity research, and certain market-based services. The Global Markets segment provides market-making, financing, securities clearing, settlement, and custody services; securities and derivative products; and risk management products using interest rate, equity, credit, currency and commodity derivatives, foreign exchange, fixed-income, and mortgage-related products. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1784 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research. It operates through the following business segments: Consumer and Community Banking (CCB), Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), Asset and Wealth Management (AWM), and Corporate. The CCB segment serves consumers and businesses through personal service at bank branches and through automated teller machines, online, mobile, and telephone banking. The CIB segment offers a suite of investment banking, market-making, prime brokerage, lending, and treasury and securities products and services to a global client base of corporations, investors, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and municipal entities. The CB segment provides comprehensive financial solutions, including lending, wholesale payments, investment banking and asset management products for middle market banking, corporate client banking, and commercial real estate banking. The AWM segment provides investment and wealth management services. The Corporate segment consists of treasury, chief investment office, and other corporate. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in New York, NY.