Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 265,708 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,513,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth $185,649,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 186.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,255 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth $86,845,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock valued at $39,938,849. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

NYSE SCHW opened at $79.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $141.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.54. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

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.