Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Has $3.70 Million Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 242.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,399 shares during the period. Charles Schwab accounts for 1.0% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. William Allan Corp raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 49,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,696,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 194,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,382,000 after acquiring an additional 17,804 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,541,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $262,100,000 after purchasing an additional 194,807 shares in the last quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,748,000. Finally, Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 65,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,857,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SCHW. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Cowen lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.50.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $83.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.97 and a 200-day moving average of $71.57. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12 month low of $61.01 and a 12 month high of $83.94. The company has a market capitalization of $148.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 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.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 33.44%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This trade 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 is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total transaction of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,057,774.01. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,014 shares of company stock valued at $4,052,281. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Charles Schwab Profile

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.