Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 2,789 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. decreased its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,789 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth about $185,649,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,617.6% in the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,707,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,681,000 after buying an additional 1,644,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 186.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,236,000 after buying an additional 1,392,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $80.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $78.03 and a 200 day moving average of $73.22. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock worth $39,938,849. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab 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.