Credit Agricole S A Purchases 192,002 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Credit Agricole S A boosted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 39.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 683,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 192,002 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $53,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 90.5% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $96.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $174.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $93.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 52-week low of $61.16 and a 52-week high of $99.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 33.68% and a return on equity of 19.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 29.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 47,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.46, for a total transaction of $4,201,850.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total transaction of $2,359,239.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,776,592.09. This represents a 29.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 308,016 shares of company stock valued at $29,341,433. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SCHW shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $117.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.60.

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.