Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,906 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,023,175,000 after purchasing an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,614,000 after buying an additional 445,304 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the 3rd 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. This trade represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SCHW. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $72.58 on Wednesday. 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 $84.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $78.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.16. The company has a market capitalization of $131.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Charles Schwab 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.