Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 37,384 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the typical volume of 26,891 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 9,559 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total transaction of $783,838.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frank C. Herringer sold 3,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $266,741.92. Following the transaction, the director now owns 172,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,784,750.12. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,412 shares of company stock worth $3,014,797 in the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Charles Schwab

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 6,650.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of Charles Schwab stock traded up $0.47 on Monday, reaching $89.16. The stock had a trading volume of 6,767,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,432,002. The business’s 50 day moving average is $78.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.47. The company has a market cap of $162.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Charles Schwab has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $89.39.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.46 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.73%.

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.