Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $3.25 Million Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 47,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,001 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 26.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 29,775,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,634,700,000 after acquiring an additional 6,195,934 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,050,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,413,244,000 after acquiring an additional 391,238 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,255,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,853,005,000 after acquiring an additional 8,563,389 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth about $1,325,555,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 3.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,560,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $854,295,000 after buying an additional 502,304 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Charles Schwab news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total transaction of $257,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 16,390 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.94, for a total value of $1,047,976.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 61,331,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,921,548,130.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,584 shares of company stock worth $14,200,769 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SCHW stock traded up $1.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $73.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,063,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,668,948. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.82. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $45.65 and a 52 week high of $73.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $130.82 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.01.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 26.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on SCHW shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.47.

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.