Atala Financial Inc Buys Shares of 556 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,023,175,000 after buying an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after purchasing an additional 445,304 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 15.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,513,894,000 after purchasing an additional 265,708 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SCHW. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $77.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.25. The company has a market capitalization of $140.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week high of $84.50.

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

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.