Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $76.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners reduced their target price on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $69.79 on Tuesday. Charles Schwab has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $78.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.43, for a total transaction of $261,713.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,152.32. The trade was a 6.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 513,081 shares of company stock worth $41,903,066 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at $1,289,544,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 354.5% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 11,005,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $814,545,000 after buying an additional 8,584,173 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 69.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,700,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $717,898,000 after acquiring an additional 3,974,940 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Charles Schwab by 742.0% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,181,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,451,000 after acquiring an additional 3,684,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 310.3% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,252,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,716,000 after purchasing an additional 3,216,000 shares during the period. 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.