Candriam S.C.A. Acquires 14,022 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 116,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,022 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $8,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 23,383 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 293.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 9,108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $745,282.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,613,038.78. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SCHW shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $74.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.92. The company has a market cap of $135.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

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.