The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Acquired by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC increased its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 78.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 19,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 8,721 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 5.4% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 3,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 18.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 511,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,891,000 after purchasing an additional 79,166 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 3.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 605,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,227,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 14,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.56.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW stock opened at $81.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $145.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.06 and a 200-day moving average of $72.18. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total transaction of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,057,774.01. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,514 shares of company stock worth $3,859,731 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.