West Oak Capital LLC Sells 23,027 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

West Oak Capital LLC trimmed its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 66.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,027 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.6% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SCHW shares. Bank of America lowered their price target on Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.69.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

NYSE:SCHW traded down $0.21 on Friday, reaching $72.79. 10,866,005 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,482,011. The firm has a market cap of $129.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.99. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $77.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.65. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $59.67 and a 52 week high of $83.35.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 62,345 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $4,521,259.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 60,619,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,396,116,784.92. This trade represents a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 29,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.16, for a total value of $2,150,368.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 551,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,783,900.64. This trade represents a 5.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 118,968 shares of company stock worth $8,842,821. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.