Blume Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,800 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Blume Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 180,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. Charles Schwab accounts for approximately 3.0% of Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $13,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SCHW. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 23,383 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after buying an additional 21,377 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In related news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $73.49 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week high of $84.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.