Horizon Investments LLC Raises Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 418 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,536,000 after purchasing an additional 38,201 shares during the period. United Bank grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 13.0% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 6.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 14.8% in the third quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE SCHW opened at $77.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $140.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.57. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

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.