Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $104.12 and last traded at $104.1050, with a volume of 980823 shares. The stock had previously closed at $101.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $119.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.84.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $184.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $95.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.93 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 35.93% and a return on equity of 21.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 25.29%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 3,072 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.00, for a total transaction of $301,056.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,168,454. This trade represents a 20.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 380.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 19,195 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.7% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 12,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 19.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 245,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,207,000 after purchasing an additional 39,228 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 100,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,854,000 after purchasing an additional 2,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plancorp LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) is a diversified financial services firm that provides brokerage, banking, wealth management and advisory services to individual investors, independent investment advisors and institutional clients. Its primary offerings include retail brokerage accounts, online trading platforms, Schwab-branded mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), retirement plan services, custodial services for independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), and banking products through Charles Schwab Bank.