Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Up 0.6%

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) shares rose 0.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $71.86 and last traded at $71.45. Approximately 1,214,902 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 7,730,623 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Charles Schwab from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Charles Schwab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.12.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $128.29 billion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.26.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 26.90%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,611 shares in the company, valued at $2,425,533.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,425,533.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total transaction of $587,610.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 585,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,198,371.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,584 shares of company stock worth $14,200,769 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 86,421,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,945,833,000 after acquiring an additional 8,182,467 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 69,360,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,771,985,000 after purchasing an additional 17,369,091 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,391,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,422,963,000 after purchasing an additional 398,367 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 30,994,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,132,454,000 after buying an additional 1,219,015 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,050,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,413,244,000 after buying an additional 391,238 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.