The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.33.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock worth $39,938,849 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,516,075,000 after buying an additional 1,187,384 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,023,175,000 after buying an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,901,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,279,742,000 after buying an additional 760,043 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $80.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $143.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.10. Charles Schwab has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

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.