Graney & King LLC Makes New Investment in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 21,377 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. The trade was a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.1 %

SCHW opened at $80.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

About Charles Schwab

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.