Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $78.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Charles Schwab traded as high as $73.65 and last traded at $72.89, with a volume of 2672879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.03.

SCHW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $87.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Charles Schwab from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 4,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $348,439.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 81,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,702,034.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Charles Schwab news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $41,207,857.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 4,977 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $348,439.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 81,446 shares in the company, valued at $5,702,034.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 216,584 shares of company stock valued at $14,200,769. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 69,360,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,771,985,000 after purchasing an additional 17,369,091 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,325,555,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,255,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,853,005,000 after purchasing an additional 8,563,389 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 86,421,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,945,833,000 after purchasing an additional 8,182,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 29,775,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,634,700,000 after purchasing an additional 6,195,934 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $126.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.74 and its 200-day moving average is $62.62.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 EPS 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 business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.