Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Upgraded at Citigroup

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $102.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $85.00. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 31.34% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on SCHW. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.28.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

NYSE SCHW opened at $77.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. Charles Schwab has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50.

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

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 509,701 shares of company stock valued at $41,641,353. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth about $1,289,544,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 354.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,584,173 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 69.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,700,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $717,898,000 after purchasing an additional 3,974,940 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 742.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,684,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 310.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

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.