King Luther Capital Management Corp Cuts Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,393 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Redburn Partners cut their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

SCHW opened at $74.29 on Thursday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $78.42 and a 200 day moving average of $74.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.84, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released 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. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.45%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 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.