Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Acquires 3,434 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,186,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,434 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.07% of Charles Schwab worth $87,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $432,536,000 after purchasing an additional 38,201 shares during the period. United Bank grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the third quarter worth about $270,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 45.9% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 20,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,590 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, 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 transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SCHW shares. TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.5 %

Charles Schwab stock opened at $78.72 on Thursday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.76 and its 200 day moving average is $74.60. 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 market capitalization of $142.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

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.