Cetera Trust Company N.A Boosts Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Cetera Trust Company N.A lifted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Charles Schwab makes up approximately 1.4% of Cetera Trust Company N.A’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings 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 period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 63,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in 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 valued at $106,299,000 after acquiring an additional 140,643 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SCHW. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.17, for a total transaction of $1,034,024.63. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,796,497.64. This trade represents a 17.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 26,823 shares of company stock valued at $2,171,194. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $80.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $143.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.68. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12 month low of $61.01 and a 12 month high of $83.35.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5,190,822.51 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. Equities analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

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.