The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.11.

Several research firms recently commented on SCHW. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:SCHW traded up $1.53 on Thursday, hitting $83.59. The stock had a trading volume of 7,114,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,097,014. Charles Schwab has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $83.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $77.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.00. The stock has a market cap of $148.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 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.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. Charles Schwab's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Charles Schwab will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is 33.44%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total value of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares in the company, valued at $36,057,774.01. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,014 shares of company stock valued at $4,052,281. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 92,844 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,842,000 after acquiring an additional 11,394 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 204.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its position in Charles Schwab by 9.1% in the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $225,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.