17,423,916 Shares in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 17,423,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,289,544,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares in the company, valued at $4,586,123.76. The trade was a 5.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

NYSE SCHW opened at $80.12 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.44 and its 200 day moving average 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. 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 PE ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

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.