Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Up 3.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) rose 3.3% during mid-day trading on Monday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $92.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Charles Schwab traded as high as $73.65 and last traded at $72.36. Approximately 5,105,775 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 7,525,560 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.03.

Several other analysts also recently commented on SCHW. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 71,226 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $4,628,977.74. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 61,251,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,980,704,959.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Charles Schwab news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $637,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 581,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,207,857.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 71,226 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $4,628,977.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 61,251,038 shares in the company, valued at $3,980,704,959.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 216,584 shares of company stock valued at $14,200,769. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 86,421,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,945,833,000 after buying an additional 8,182,467 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 69,360,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,771,985,000 after purchasing an additional 17,369,091 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 30,994,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,132,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,015 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,050,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,413,244,000 after purchasing an additional 391,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,255,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,853,005,000 after purchasing an additional 8,563,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $129.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.75.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.90% and a return on equity of 21.33%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.37%.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services.