Dimon Plans to Sell $137M of JPMorgan Shares

That plan was announced earlier this week. The 67-year-old Dimon, atop the largest US bank since the end of 2005, has quipped for years that he plans to remain JPMorgan’s CEO for five more years.

“Given that this is Mr. Dimon’s first such sale since joining the company and that he is such a critical part of the story, we are certain the announcement will draw attention,” Piper Sandler Cos. analysts R. Scott Siefers and Frank Williams, who have an overweight rating on JPMorgan shares, said in a note to clients.

The announcement may cause some near-term weakness in the stock, they said. Still, “diversification sure seems prudent, and we find no fault with the decision.”

JPMorgan shares are up about 1% this year, outperforming the S&P 500 Financials Index, which has dropped 5.5%.

Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Mike Mayo noted that Dimon’s stock-sale plan “comes after his bearish comments that include the possibility of interest rates increasing to 7%, and an ‘uninvestable’ banking sector” due to the burden of proposed Basel III Endgame requirements.

“The timing of his first sale with these comments got our attention,” Mayo said in a research note, adding that the plan also serves as “a reminder that the CEO is getting closer to retirement.”

(Credit: Bloomberg)