Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Trims Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 34.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,564 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 12,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.7% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Michael S. Ryan Inc. increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc. now owns 5,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, GS Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.3% during the third quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 57,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,722,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SCHW shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.50.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $81.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $144.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.88.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,514 shares of company stock worth $3,859,731. 6.60% of the stock is owned by 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.