The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Position Reduced by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,335 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 27,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 5,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 1,344 shares during the period. TrueWealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $587,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays raised 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. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of SCHW opened at $78.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $139.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.76. 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 twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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 expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. 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 currently 36.12%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock valued at $39,938,849 over the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is owned by 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.