Fiduciary Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Fiduciary Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,026 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 230.1% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after buying an additional 23,383 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 21,377 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth about $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in Charles Schwab by 293.9% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 9,108 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SCHW shares. Redburn Partners cut their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $78.72 on Thursday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 over the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.