Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) to Repurchase $20.00 billion in Shares

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, July 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Securities lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Friday, July 18th. William Blair downgraded Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Charles Schwab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.65.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE SCHW traded up $1.39 on Thursday, reaching $96.54. 9,042,432 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,724,406. The business's fifty day moving average price is $90.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Charles Schwab has a fifty-two week low of $61.15 and a fifty-two week high of $97.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.73% and a net margin of 33.68%. The company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 47,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.46, for a total transaction of $4,201,850.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 10,129 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $911,711.29. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 39,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,524,251.54. The trade was a 20.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 116,313 shares of company stock worth $10,264,091. Corporate insiders own 6.30% 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.

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