GPM Growth Investors Inc. Decreases Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

GPM Growth Investors Inc. lessened its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,881 shares during the quarter. GPM Growth Investors Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 62.6% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $76.88 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $139.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 491,200 shares of company stock worth $40,206,950 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

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.