The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,840,000 shares, a drop of 25.9% from the February 13th total of 22,740,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 10,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SCHW traded up $0.69 on Monday, reaching $77.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,550,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,422,138. Charles Schwab has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. 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 firm has a market cap of $141.10 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.48.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted 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 return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction 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 $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,516,075,000 after buying an additional 1,187,384 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the third 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 boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,901,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,279,742,000 after buying an additional 760,043 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during 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 buying an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

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.