The Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report released Wednesday, Zacks.com reports. The brokerage currently has a price target of $ 80.00 on shares of the financial services provider. Zacks Investment Research’s price target would point to a potential rise of 6.10% from the company’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “Schwab stocks have outperformed the industry over the past year. The company has an impressive history of surprising profits. Company earnings have beaten Zacks’ consensus estimate in each of the past four quarters. Strategic acquisitions have strengthened its position as a leading brokerage player, and will be earnings accretive and will also lead to substantial savings. Its effective capital deployment activities reflect a strong balance sheet position. Offering commission-free transactions has led to an increase client assets and brokerage accounts, which in turn will continue to improve its trading income. However, the pursuit of interest rates close to zero with no chance of an increase in the short term is a major concern. In addition, the continued increase in operating expenses will likely hurt profitability to some extent. “

Other equity research analysts have also recently published research reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs group downgraded The Charles Schwab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a price target of $ 76.00 for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 8. raised its target price for The Charles Schwab stock from $ 93.00 to $ 94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 12. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its price target for The Charles Schwab shares from $ 90.00 to $ 92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday July 23 . JMP Securities raised its price target on The Charles Schwab from $ 83.00 to $ 85 and gave the stock a “market outperformance” rating in a research report released on Friday, July 23. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised its price target for The Charles Schwab from $ 76.00 to $ 88.00 and assigned the stock an “overweight” rating in a report released on Wednesday, June 2. Two investment analysts rated the stock with a conservation rating and thirteen gave the company’s stock a buy rating. According to MarketBeat data, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $ 81.59.

SCHW traded at $ 0.78 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $ 75.40. 101,260 shares of the company were traded, for an average volume of 7,268,581. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt ratio of 0.39. The Charles Schwab has a one-year low of $ 35.49 and a one-year high of $ 77.96. The company has a fifty-day moving average price of $ 71.62 and a two hundred-day moving average price of $ 70.51. The stock has a market cap of $ 136.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 1.05.

The Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) last released its quarterly results on Thursday, July 15. The financial services provider reported $ 0.70 in EPS for the quarter, missing analyst consensus estimates of $ 0.71 per ($ 0.01). The company posted revenue of $ 4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to $ 4.46 billion according to analysts’ estimates. The Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 28.88%. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter increased 84.8% year-over-year. In the same quarter of last year, the company posted EPS of $ 0.54. Sell-side analysts expect The Charles Schwab to post earnings per share of 3.14 for the current year.

In other news from The Charles Schwab, Executive Vice President Jonathan M. Craig sold 902 shares in a trade on Tuesday, September 28. The stock was sold for an average price of $ 77.96, for a total trade of $ 70,319.92. The transaction was disclosed in a file with the SEC, accessible through this link. In addition, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 2,600 shares in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 21. The stock was sold for an average price of $ 70.00, for a total value of $ 182,000.00. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. In the past ninety days, insiders have sold 528,162 shares of the company valued at $ 38,559,889. Insiders own 7.50% of the shares of the company.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently changed their positions in SCHW. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in The Charles Schwab in the first quarter valued at $ 25,000. Holloway Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in The Charles Schwab during the second quarter valued at approximately $ 25,000. Red Door Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in The Charles Schwab shares in the second quarter valued at approximately $ 26,000. Baron Financial Group LLC increased its position in The Charles Schwab shares by 117.5% during the 1st quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC now owns 435 shares of the financial services provider valued at $ 28,000 after purchasing 235 more shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in The Charles Schwab in the second quarter for a value of approximately $ 31,000. 71.66% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corp. is a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody and financial advisory services. It operates through the Investor Services and Advisor Services segments. The Investor Services segment comprises retail brokerage and retail investor banking services, and pension plan services, as well as other brokerage services to businesses, businesses and their employees.

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