Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Acquires 1,287 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SCHW. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $77.79 on Monday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.45. 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 has a market cap of $141.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company 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 1.39%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 8,614 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $689,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,320. This trade represents a 14.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 509,701 shares of company stock valued at $41,641,353. 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.