KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 538,572 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 538,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $39,860,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,023,175,000 after buying an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after acquiring an additional 445,304 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,438,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $772,579,000 after acquiring an additional 60,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $78.47 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $142.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.99 and a 200-day moving average of $74.72. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued 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. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SCHW. Redburn Partners dropped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.