The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Sold by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance lowered its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,861 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,536,000 after acquiring an additional 38,201 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 13.0% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at $61,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 6.9% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at $351,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,613,038.78. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE SCHW opened at $74.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week high of $84.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $78.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Charles Schwab Company 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.