Ascent Group LLC Grows Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 102,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,499 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $9,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 97.9% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SCHW shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, William Blair lowered Charles Schwab from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total transaction of $594,800.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,265.63. The trade was a 34.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total value of $2,359,239.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,776,592.09. This represents a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 267,128 shares of company stock worth $26,232,077. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.5%

SCHW stock opened at $94.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.07 and a 12-month high of $99.59. The stock has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $95.37 and its 200 day moving average is $88.57.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 29.03%.

Charles Schwab declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.