Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires 1,287 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on SCHW. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Insiders have sold 509,701 shares of company stock valued at $41,641,353 in the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $77.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $141.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.55 and its 200 day moving average is $75.45. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. 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.