Banque Pictet & Cie SA Increases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 153,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $11,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 19,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,721 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 3,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 18.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 511,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,891,000 after buying an additional 79,166 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 605,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,227,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in Charles Schwab by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 14,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $81.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $84.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $78.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.18.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This represents a 11.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,514 shares of company stock valued at $3,859,731 over the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.56.

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.