Somerville Kurt F Invests $2.22 Million in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Somerville Kurt F purchased a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 24,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 148,395,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,616,380,000 after purchasing an additional 19,817,022 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Charles Schwab by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 82,048,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,422,795,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Charles Schwab by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,440,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,365,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,384 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 17,115,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,339,822,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,586,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,220,107,000 after purchasing an additional 743,906 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SCHW shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total transaction of $17,185,903.84. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 50,016 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $4,851,552.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 267,128 shares of company stock worth $26,232,077. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:SCHW opened at $93.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.21 and its 200-day moving average is $88.86. 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 $64.26 and a 52 week high of $99.59. The firm has a market cap of $170.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

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

Charles Schwab declared 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.