UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Decreases Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 552 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $10,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Summitry LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 1,016,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,204,000 after purchasing an additional 10,673 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Charles Schwab by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 720,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,312,000 after acquiring an additional 40,208 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 79,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,903,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the period. Finally, Baxter Bros Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 57,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,264,000 after acquiring an additional 11,904 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

SCHW opened at $80.81 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $79.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.11. The company has a market cap of $146.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.