67,075 Shares in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Acquired by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 67,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,536,000 after acquiring an additional 38,201 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after buying an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $270,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 20,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,590 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $78.47 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $142.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $84.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.99 and a 200-day moving average of $74.72.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The business 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%. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 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.