Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Boosts Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 140,050.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,602 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 6,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 4,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 11,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. 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. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,613,038.78. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $78.47 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. 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 moving average is $78.99 and its 200 day moving average is $74.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced 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. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

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.