Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $189,791,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth about $185,649,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Charles Schwab by 186.7% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,236,000 after buying an additional 1,392,255 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SCHW. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $72.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $131.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.16.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS 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 business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.