Whipplewood Advisors LLC Takes $46,000 Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SCHW. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 128,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,307,000 after buying an additional 5,798 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.2% during the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 16,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after buying an additional 964 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 27,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 23,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after buying an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Biechele Royce Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.0% during the third quarter. Biechele Royce Advisors now owns 210,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,644,000 after buying an additional 19,061 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on SCHW shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners lowered their target price on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 487,820 shares of company stock worth $39,938,849. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SCHW opened at $79.71 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.54.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio 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.