Main Street Research LLC Raises Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Main Street Research LLC boosted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 370,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,925 shares during the period. Charles Schwab accounts for about 2.0% of Main Street Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $25,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 20,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 4.3% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 7.5% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total transaction of $257,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Peter B. Crawford sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.49, for a total value of $257,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,425,533.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 71,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $4,628,977.74. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 61,251,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,704,959.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 216,584 shares of company stock valued at $14,200,769 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of SCHW stock traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.36. The stock had a trading volume of 6,325,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,638,901. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $45.65 and a 12-month high of $73.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.62. The company has a market cap of $128.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 21.33% and a net margin of 26.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.37%.

Charles Schwab 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.