N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Acquires 125 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 23,383 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,937 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,377 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 155.9% in the 3rd quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 104,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,751,000 after purchasing an additional 63,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,640,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,299,000 after purchasing an additional 140,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $82.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.94 and a 200 day moving average of $71.08. The company has a market cap of $147.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $83.84.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SCHW. Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total transaction of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,057,774.01. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,014 shares of company stock worth $4,052,281 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Charles Schwab

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.