Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 153,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,130 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $11,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $615,000. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 21,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,605,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 3.8 %

SCHW stock opened at $75.17 on Wednesday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The business’s 50-day moving average is $78.45 and its 200 day moving average is $73.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $136.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 491,200 shares of company stock valued at $40,206,950 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SCHW shares. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Profile

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.