M&T Bank Corp Trims Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 288,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 51,819 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $21,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in Charles Schwab by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 6,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 4,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 12,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. This trade represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 491,200 shares of company stock worth $40,206,950. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.85.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS 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 boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

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.