Lazari Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,617.6% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,707,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,681,000 after buying an additional 1,644,931 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,236,000 after buying an additional 1,392,255 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $86,845,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SCHW shares. Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.11.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $82.73 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.22. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12 month low of $61.01 and a 12 month high of $83.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.02, for a total transaction of $192,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,391,674.38. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,014 shares of company stock valued at $4,052,281 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.