Plancorp LLC Acquires New Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Plancorp LLC acquired a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,023,175,000 after purchasing an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after acquiring an additional 445,304 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,438,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $772,579,000 after acquiring an additional 60,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. The trade was a 5.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW opened at $78.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm 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 was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 36.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SCHW shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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 target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

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.