Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC cut its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 28.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,303 shares during the quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $185,649,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $86,845,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $78.08 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.76. The stock has a market cap of $139.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 487,820 shares of company stock valued at $39,938,849 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.