E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Invests $274,000 in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 116,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,620,000 after buying an additional 14,022 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 50,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,738,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 70.5% in the fourth quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 6,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 5,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $74.58 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50. The stock has a market cap of $135.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.99.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. 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 1.45%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners cut their target price on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 47,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,613,038.78. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.