Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $82.66 and last traded at $82.63, with a volume of 394623 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SCHW. Cowen upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.18.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $147.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.27, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.96. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.03.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 39.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 59,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,796,497.64. This trade represents a 17.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.05, for a total transaction of $576,450.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 554,929 shares in the company, valued at $35,543,202.45. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,968 shares of company stock worth $9,419,271 in the last quarter. 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 company. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 155.9% in the 3rd quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 104,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,751,000 after purchasing an additional 63,463 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,640,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,299,000 after purchasing an additional 140,643 shares during the last quarter. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. now owns 775,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,122,000 after purchasing an additional 64,041 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 28,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after purchasing an additional 7,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,081,000. 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.