Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 28,368 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 28,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,100,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on SCHW. Barclays reduced their price objective on Charles Schwab from $96.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Charles Schwab from $93.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.61.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:SCHW opened at $86.21 on Wednesday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $87.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $77.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.03. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 9,559 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total value of $783,838.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,412 shares of company stock valued at $3,014,797 over the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.