JMP Securities Reiterates “Market Outperform” Rating for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reiterated by JMP Securities in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $110.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.82% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on SCHW. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $114.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price objective on Charles Schwab and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.70.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $94.17 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.66. Charles Schwab has a fifty-two week low of $65.88 and a fifty-two week high of $99.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.06. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 21.26% and a net margin of 35.93%.The business had revenue of $6.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total transaction of $2,359,239.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,776,592.09. This trade represents a 29.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,388,148.56. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 267,128 shares of company stock worth $26,232,077. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,889,858,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 148,395,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,616,380,000 after acquiring an additional 19,817,022 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 595.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,488,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,461,000 after acquiring an additional 13,262,309 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 229.3% in the 1st quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,002,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,096,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,749,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 82,048,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,422,795,000 after acquiring an additional 8,954,248 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

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.