Fiduciary Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Fiduciary Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 43,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,026 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,023,175,000 after acquiring an additional 414,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after acquiring an additional 445,304 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 valued at $1,644,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.5 %

Charles Schwab stock opened at $78.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $142.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.60. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid 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 of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SCHW. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

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.