L & S Advisors Inc Takes Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

L & S Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 22,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,656,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 4,691,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,284,000 after buying an additional 2,322,156 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the first quarter valued at approximately $11,452,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 10.4% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 190,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,788,000 after purchasing an additional 17,925 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 12.2% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 217.8% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 194,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,371,000 after buying an additional 133,186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

NYSE:SCHW opened at $63.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $113.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $48.66 and a 1-year high of $79.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.03.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.30% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $82.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $91.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler cut Charles Schwab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $80.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.75.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, CEO Walter W. Bettinger acquired 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $66.26 per share, with a total value of $1,656,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,822,000.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Walter W. Bettinger acquired 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $66.26 per share, with a total value of $1,656,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $54,822,000.02. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.49, for a total transaction of $652,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 570,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,366,925.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,636 shares of company stock valued at $6,533,064 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.