Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. William Blair cut Charles Schwab from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $112.00 price target on Charles Schwab in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.52.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $94.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.57. The stock has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.97. Charles Schwab has a 1 year low of $64.07 and a 1 year high of $99.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 29.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 50,016 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $4,851,552.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 590,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 267,128 shares of company stock valued at $26,232,077 in the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the second quarter worth about $25,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 75.0% in the first quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

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.