Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,252 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $6,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SCHW. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 380.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 19,195 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 21.6% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.1% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 16,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the second quarter valued at approximately $552,000. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.7% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 6,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 67,514 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.25, for a total value of $7,038,334.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 529,346 shares in the company, valued at $55,184,320.50. This represents a 11.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 41,297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total value of $4,088,403.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 57,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,739,228. The trade was a 41.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 470,748 shares of company stock worth $48,095,857 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Key Charles Schwab News

Here are the key news stories impacting Charles Schwab this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat on EPS and strong trading/revenue momentum — Schwab reported $1.43 adjusted EPS and record quarterly revenue driven by elevated trading volumes and net new assets; that print supports underlying business strength. Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Posts Q1 CY2026 Sales In Line With Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Launch of Schwab Crypto — the firm announced phased retail roll‑out of spot Bitcoin and Ether trading (competitive pricing vs. peers); this expands addressable trading revenue and could increase client engagement if adoption scales. Charles Schwab Announces Details of Spot Crypto Trading Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price‑target boosts and upgrades — major banks raised targets/ratings after the quarter, signaling renewed conviction that earnings leverage and product initiatives can drive upside. Charles Schwab Gets Dual Price Target Boosts From Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan
• Positive Sentiment: Tech initiatives — Schwab will roll out client‑facing AI agents in June, which could improve service efficiency and client retention over time. Schwab Makes AI Push, With Client-Facing Agents To Roll Out in June
• Neutral Sentiment: Record client growth and engagement — Schwab added ~1.3M accounts and reported ~$11.7T in client assets with record trading activity; positive for long‑term revenue but not an immediate fix for margin concerns. Charles Schwab Adds 1.3 Million Accounts, Reports Record Client Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings materials/transcript available — investors will parse management commentary for detail on cash‑sweep dynamics, margin outlook and crypto rollout cadence. SCHW Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: FY‑2026 EPS guidance below Street — Schwab set FY‑26 EPS at $5.70–$5.80, under the ~$5.93 consensus; guidance shortfall is the main driver of the intra‑day weakness as it reduces near‑term valuation support.
• Negative Sentiment: Net interest income (NII) and cash‑sorting risk — analysts flagged weaker‑than‑expected NII and sensitivity to clients moving sweep cash into higher‑yield alternatives, which can pressure future margins. Charles Schwab stock dips as Q1 revenue disappoints on weaker-than-expected net-interest-income
• Negative Sentiment: Options activity and insider selling add near‑term volatility — elevated put buying ahead of the print and recent Rule‑10b5‑1 insider sales have amplified downside pressure and uncertainty. Traders Purchase High Volume of Charles Schwab Put Options (NYSE:SCHW) Nigel Murtagh Form 4

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SCHW. Barclays dropped their price target on Charles Schwab from $126.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Charles Schwab from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Charles Schwab from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Charles Schwab from $122.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.30.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $92.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $94.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.37. The stock has a market cap of $160.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.90. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.76 and a 52-week high of $107.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.39 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 23.03% and a net margin of 37.99%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. Charles Schwab has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.700-5.800 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.47%.

Charles Schwab Profile

Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) is a diversified financial services firm that provides brokerage, banking, wealth management and advisory services to individual investors, independent investment advisors and institutional clients. Its primary offerings include retail brokerage accounts, online trading platforms, Schwab-branded mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), retirement plan services, custodial services for independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), and banking products through Charles Schwab Bank.