The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Chairman Walter W. Bettinger Sells 464,629 Shares

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $80.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $142.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.25. 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 quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 33.44%.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 287,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,297,000 after buying an additional 86,101 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $859,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,111,000. Talon Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $296,000. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 247,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,308,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Redburn Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.56.

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.