Financial services company The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) recently announced new enhancements to Schwab Advisor Services, allowing advisors to easily onboard clients digitally.
Schwab Advisor Services is tailored to serve independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Schwab.
Digital Improvements to Make Life Easier for Advisors and Their Clients
The new enhancements will allow advisors to open and fund up to 10 new client accounts in one “digital envelope.” Further, the clients can authorize this envelope with a few clicks, thus making the lives of advisors and clients easier.
The digital improvements are expected to streamline the onboarding process of clients and reduce the time advisors spend on opening multiple client accounts. Moreover, the enhancements will eliminate paperwork, which makes the onboarding process less vulnerable to human errors.
Notably, these enhanced onboarding capabilities will be available in many popular third-party technology tools through Schwab’s third-party integrations.
What is Wall Street Saying About Schwab Stock?
Recently, Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Bedell reiterated a Buy rating on the stock. The analyst, however, lowered the price target from $84 to $80, which implies upside potential of 28.5% from current levels.
Overall, the Wall Street community is cautiously optimistic about the stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on nine Buys and four Holds. The SCHW average price target of $91.15 implies the stock has upside potential of 46.4% from current levels. Shares have declined 12.5% over the past year.
Investors Loading Up on Schwab Stock
The TipRanks’ Stock Investors tool shows that top investors currently have a Very Positive stance on SCHW. Further, 10% of the top portfolios tracked by TipRanks, increased their exposure to SCHW stock over the past 30 days.
Key Takeaways
Schwab’s improvement in its Schwab Advisor Services comes close on the heels of the company paying a hefty fine last month. The fine was related to the company’s robo-advisor, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, allocating an excessive amount of its clients’ money to cash.
In such a situation, the company’s move to digitally enhance its advisor services arm with improved onboarding capabilities is expected to make the lives of the advisors and their clients easier. This is expected to boost the reputation of the company’s advisory services arm, which has been tarnished somewhat recently due to the fine.
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