Korea Investment CORP Grows Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 37.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,136,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 311,547 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.06% of Charles Schwab worth $84,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,516,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,384 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 0.7% in 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 buying an additional 414,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,614,000 after buying an additional 445,304 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $1,644,674,000 after buying an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.8 %

SCHW stock opened at $80.12 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 market capitalization of $145.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Redburn Partners decreased their price target on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.