Cooke & Bieler LP Reduces Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Cooke & Bieler LP lessened its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,738,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 135,910 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab comprises about 2.0% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 0.15% of Charles Schwab worth $202,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,536,000 after purchasing an additional 38,201 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 5,029 shares during the period. United Bank raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 172,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,150,000 after buying an additional 33,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SCHW. UBS Group raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 4.3 %

Charles Schwab stock opened at $71.40 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $129.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.11.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at $1,523,242.94. This trade represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. This represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is owned by 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.