Straight Path Wealth Management Invests $202,000 in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Straight Path Wealth Management acquired a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $189,791,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 462,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,265,000 after acquiring an additional 29,824 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 33,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after acquiring an additional 3,744 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at about $441,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 491,200 shares of company stock worth $40,206,950. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $76.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.85.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

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.