Financial Counselors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Financial Counselors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 272,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,938 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $20,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,536,000 after buying an additional 38,201 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.0% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth about $270,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 605,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,227,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

NYSE:SCHW opened at $80.81 on Wednesday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The company has a market cap of $146.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.11.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Partners lowered their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.