Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Trading 1.3% Higher

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)’s stock price shot up 1.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $73.59 and last traded at $73.45. 1,462,870 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 7,663,589 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SCHW. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered their target price on Charles Schwab from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.47.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 0.5 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $68.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.82. The company has a market capitalization of $129.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 26.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.84%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total transaction of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Charles Schwab news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total value of $587,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 585,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,198,371.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 216,584 shares of company stock worth $14,200,769. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 33.4% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 17,369,091 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at $1,325,555,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.