Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $448,000 Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 38.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,759 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Auxano Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 742 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 21,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 19,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after buying an additional 4,230 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares in the company, valued at $4,586,123.76. This represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold 491,200 shares of company stock worth $40,206,950 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $76.88 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.85. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The company has a market capitalization of $139.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

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.