Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Trading 0.6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) shares traded up 0.6% on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $87.00 to $91.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Charles Schwab traded as high as $73.09 and last traded at $72.78. 1,644,825 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 7,553,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.34.

SCHW has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 29,991 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.80, for a total value of $2,033,389.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,522,038.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Charles Schwab news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total transaction of $587,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 585,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,198,371.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 29,991 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.80, for a total transaction of $2,033,389.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,522,038.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 622,536 shares of company stock valued at $46,208,155 over the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,963,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,750,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,823 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Charles Schwab by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 72,306,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,230,657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,327 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.1% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,219,015 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,627,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,281,584,000 after buying an additional 296,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,560,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $854,295,000 after buying an additional 502,304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $128.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 26.14%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 41.84%.

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.