American Trust Cuts Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

American Trust lessened its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,969 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $4,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 4,691,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,284,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322,156 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,393,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,254,000 after purchasing an additional 857,734 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter worth $11,452,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 883,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,776,000 after purchasing an additional 160,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,329,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,462,000 after acquiring an additional 152,967 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCHW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $71.00 price target (down from $88.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 65,790 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total transaction of $5,026,356.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 60,906,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,653,270,810.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Charles Schwab news, insider Bernard J. Clark sold 77,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.94, for a total value of $5,492,955.14. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 121,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,630,986.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 65,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total value of $5,026,356.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 60,906,686 shares in the company, valued at $4,653,270,810.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 352,489 shares of company stock worth $25,598,796 over the last 90 days. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Charles Schwab stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $63.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,258,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,778,258. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.66 and a fifty-two week high of $79.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.01. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.65% and a net margin of 26.30%. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.84%.

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.