First Merchants Corp Sells 2,493 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 123,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,493 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $11,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC bought a new stake in Charles Schwab during the first quarter valued at about $79,605,000. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.8% in the first quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 39,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after acquiring an additional 4,754 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.2% in the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,181,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,493,000 after acquiring an additional 68,858 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.2% in the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 5,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 14.1% in the first quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 39,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Charles Schwab to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 target price on Charles Schwab and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.57.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 50,016 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $4,851,552.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares in the company, valued at $58,388,148.56. The trade was a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 267,128 shares of company stock valued at $26,232,077 over the last ninety days. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $93.82 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 1-year low of $64.97 and a 1-year high of $99.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.97.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 29.03%.

Charles Schwab declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.