Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Decreases Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $221,070,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in 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 worth $110,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644,931 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $86,845,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial raised shares of Charles Schwab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 29,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.16, for a total transaction of $2,150,368.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 551,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,783,900.64. The trade was a 5.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 118,968 shares of company stock worth $8,842,821. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW opened at $72.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $129.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.99. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $77.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $59.67 and a 12-month high of $83.35.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

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.