HMV Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,491 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

HMV Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,536,000 after buying an additional 38,201 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.0% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 493 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 20.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $695,000 after buying an additional 1,841 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 9.9% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 4,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SCHW shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

NYSE:SCHW opened at $77.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $78.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.25.

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

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

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.