GWN Securities Inc. Invests $444,000 in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,023,175,000 after acquiring an additional 414,949 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.5% in the third 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 buying an additional 445,304 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in 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 valued at $1,858,706,000 after buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 265,708 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SCHW. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $77.28 on Monday. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.39. The firm has a market cap of $140.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

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

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.