Marshall Wace LLP Purchases 3,684,640 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 742.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,181,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,684,640 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $309,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 513,081 shares of company stock worth $41,903,066. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $77.15 on Wednesday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued 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. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities lowered their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Charles Schwab from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their target price on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.33.

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.