TD Ameritrade Shares Reach New High

OMAHA, Neb. (TheStreet) -- TD Ameritrade(AMTD Quote) shares edged to a new high Monday after the company reported strong client trading activity for October and got a vote of confidence from Moody's.

The stock was up 11 cents to $21.06 in late afternoon trades. Volume of 2.5 million compared to the issue's three-month daily average of 4.1 million. The session's high of $21.16 is a new 52-week peak for the shares, which are up more than 70% in the past year.

Before the opening bell, TD Ameritrade said it had an average of 420,000 client trades per day in October, up 2% from the same period a year earlier, but down 3% on a sequential basis from September. As of Oct. 31, total client assets stood at $297.3 billion, an increase of 23% from the same time last year, and down 2% from the end of September.

BMO Capital Markets said the performance for the month was roughly in line with its expectations. The DART (daily average revenue trades) number was actually slightly better than the 399,000 figure BMO Capital is expecting for the company's fiscal first quarter, which ends in December, but the firm is leaving its estimate in place.

"DARTs are currently running above that projection [399,000], but given the slower trading around the holidays in November and December we think our estimates are appropriate," it said in a research note. BMO Capital left its outperform rating on the stock intact with a 12-month price target of $23.