Brokerages Set The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Target Price at $80.50

Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.19.

A number of analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup decreased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Cowen raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This represents a 11.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.17, for a total transaction of $1,034,024.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,092 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,497.64. The trade was a 17.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 118,968 shares of company stock valued at $8,842,821. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 15.0% in the third 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 during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,070,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew 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 in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,617.6% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,707,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,681,000 after buying an additional 1,644,931 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth approximately $86,845,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $72.15 on Friday. Charles Schwab has a 52 week low of $59.67 and a 52 week high of $83.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.62. 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 firm has a market cap of $128.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Charles Schwab will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 39.06%.

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.