It’s been a long, strange week for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW). There was an irrational sell-off earlier in the week, which some suggested was prompted by contagion from Silicon Valley Bank (NASDAQ:SIVB). Recovery kicked in from there, and analysts considered the whole matter overdone. Now, word got out about how much Schwab picked up in assets over the course of the week. Despite this massive upswing, investors aren’t happy with Schwab, prompting another, but much smaller, sell-off in Friday afternoon’s trading.
This week, reports note Charles Schwab brought in $16.5 billion in net new assets. With 34 million account holders, it was clear that most of them didn’t especially care about the trouble surrounding the bank, including the massive sell-off. While certainly, the troubles at other banks hit Schwab hard, it was still regarded as a “safe haven” among financial institutions. In fact, Credit Suisse—itself no stranger to trouble this week—considered Charles Schwab enough of a safe haven to upgrade it to “outperform.”
Credit Suisse, via analyst William Katz, cited an increasingly attractive pricing picture for Charles Schwab shares. The analyst upgrade, however, wasn’t sufficient to prevent further bleeding at Schwab, though a slate of insider buys—around $4.5 million worth of buys—certainly did help. Even Senator Dan Sullivan got in on the action, picking up Schwab shares along with several other stocks.
Overall, analysts are generally on Schwab’s side here, with the consensus calling Schwab stock a Moderate Buy. Furthermore, the stock enjoys 49.31% upside potential thanks to its $85.03 average price target.
