SAM Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

SAM Advisors LLC lifted its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 195 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab makes up approximately 1.3% of SAM Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. SAM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SCHW. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $109,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 7,559.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,667,000 after acquiring an additional 878,163 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 53.0% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,390,000 after acquiring an additional 18,119 shares in the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 24.0% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 64,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after buying an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SCHW. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW opened at $80.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.95. 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 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 net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, 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 value of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, 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 490,120 shares of company stock valued at $40,127,472 in the last three months. 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.