The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Acquired by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 8.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,697 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $5,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 126.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 65,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,773,000 after buying an additional 36,782 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 25.3% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 5,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 302.2% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 32.8% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 4,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SCHW. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.05, for a total value of $576,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 554,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,543,202.45. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 62,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $4,521,259.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 60,619,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,396,116,784.92. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 127,968 shares of company stock valued at $9,419,271 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $82.76 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.96. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $59.61 and a fifty-two week high of $83.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.06%.

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.