Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Stock Price

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) had its target price lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $81.00 to $93.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on SCHW. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.50.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW stock opened at $74.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.58. Charles Schwab has a 12-month low of $59.67 and a 12-month high of $83.35. The firm has a market cap of $132.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.96.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 27.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Charles Schwab will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 62,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $4,521,259.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 60,619,371 shares in the company, valued at $4,396,116,784.92. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 29,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.16, for a total value of $2,150,368.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 551,329 shares in the company, valued at $39,783,900.64. This trade represents a 5.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 118,968 shares of company stock worth $8,842,821. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the 3rd 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 increased its position in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after purchasing an additional 445,304 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,189,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,485,000 after buying an additional 493,264 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.