The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Sold by Cynosure Group LLC

Cynosure Group LLC lowered its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 493 shares during the quarter. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 509,701 shares of company stock valued at $41,641,353. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reissued 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Redburn Partners lowered 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. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE SCHW opened at $77.66 on Wednesday. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.67. The company has a market capitalization of $140.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. 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%.

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.