ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Takes $203,000 Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its position in Charles Schwab by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 3,000,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,858,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,617.6% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,707,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,681,000 after buying an additional 1,644,931 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth approximately $86,845,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SCHW. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.63.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $73.75 on Thursday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $59.67 and a one year high of $83.35. The company has a market capitalization of $131.25 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.58.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.06%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total value of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,057,774.01. This trade represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.17, for a total transaction of $1,034,024.63. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,796,497.64. This represents a 17.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,823 shares of company stock valued at $2,171,194 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.