The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) to “Buy”

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $100.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 25.06% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on SCHW. Redburn Partners cut their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup raised Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $102.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.22.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of SCHW opened at $79.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Charles Schwab has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. The stock has a market cap of $145.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.03.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.46 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,613,038.78. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 493,482 shares of company stock worth $40,288,720 over the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,516,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,901,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,279,742,000 after buying an additional 760,043 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,513,894,000 after purchasing an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at $1,289,544,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently 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.