Fmr LLC Buys 3,974,940 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Fmr LLC boosted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 69.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,700,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,974,940 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $717,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $69.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.92. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup raised Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 513,081 shares of company stock valued at $41,903,066. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.