New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 1,800 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board decreased its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 71,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $5,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 511,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,891,000 after acquiring an additional 79,166 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 22.0% in the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 10,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.6% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 27,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 20.1% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 22,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,322,000. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. This represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 512,143 shares of company stock valued at $41,917,493 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $80.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.25. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $142.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 33.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.56.

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.