West Coast Financial LLC Trims Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

West Coast Financial LLC cut its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,937 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,377 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 155.9% in the 3rd quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 104,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,751,000 after purchasing an additional 63,463 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp grew its position in Charles Schwab by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,640,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,299,000 after purchasing an additional 140,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. now owns 775,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,122,000 after purchasing an additional 64,041 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total value of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 442,807 shares in the company, valued at $36,057,774.01. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,823 shares of company stock valued at $2,171,194. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered their price target on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.63.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $73.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $130.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.58. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $59.67 and a 1 year high of $83.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

Charles Schwab 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.