The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 29.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 175,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,088 shares during the period. Charles Schwab makes up 0.5% of Quantbot Technologies LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $12,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,536,000 after purchasing an additional 38,201 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its position in Charles Schwab by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 7,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 493 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after buying an additional 1,841 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $73.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.16. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week 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.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.