Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $28.71 Million Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,261 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $28,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after buying an additional 23,383 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 21,377 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after buying an additional 9,108 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 5.1 %

SCHW opened at $77.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.32. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The firm has a market cap of $140.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This trade represents a 31.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

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.