Ashburton Jersey Ltd Sells 115,470 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 79.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 115,470 shares during the period. Charles Schwab comprises about 1.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,516,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,384 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,901,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,279,742,000 after buying an additional 760,043 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,289,544,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Charles Schwab from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 513,081 shares of company stock worth $41,903,066 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 7.7 %

SCHW stock opened at $69.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $79.09 and a 200 day moving average of $75.81. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The firm has a market cap of $125.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Charles Schwab’s dividend 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.