Walt Bettinger, the CEO of financial services firm Charles Schwab (SCHW), has announced that he will retire at the end of December after leading the company for 16 years.
Bettinger will be replaced as CEO by Rick Wurster, who currently serves as president of Charles Schwab. After January 1, 2025, Bettinger will continue to serve as co-chair of the brokerage’s board of directors. In a news release, Bettinger said he is retiring as he approaches his 65th birthday and praised Wurster as the best choice to assume the CEO role and lead the company into the future.
“Rick Wurster and I have worked together on a daily basis for more than eight years. I have complete confidence in his leadership, and I am thrilled that the Schwab Board of Directors has selected him as my successor,” said Bettinger in the release.
Challenges at Charles Schwab
Bettinger’s most notable accomplishment at Charles Schwab was completing the 2020 acquisition of brokerage TD Ameritrade. That deal has helped to boost Charles Schwab’s assets under management to $9.74 trillion from $1.14 trillion, and increase the number of brokerage accounts to 43 million from less than 10 million.
In an interview on CNBC, Bettinger said that completing the successful integration of TD Ameritrade was another reason he decided to step down as CEO. While the TD Ameritrade acquisition is widely viewed as a success, Charles Schwab has encountered challenges in recent years. The company has seen deposit outflows accelerate amid a flight to high-yielding bonds, and it has missed Wall Street’s targets for its financial results in several quarters.
As a result, SCHW stock has underperformed the broader market, declining 5% this year as the benchmark S&P 500 index has risen 20%. Since Bettinger became CEO in 2008 amid the global financial crisis, Charles Schwab’s stock has increased 150%.
Is SCHW Stock a Buy?
Charles Schwab stock has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 16 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on eight Buy, seven Hold, and one Sell ratings issued in the last three months. The average price target on SCHW stock of $74.40 implies 16.89% upside potential from current levels.
