Abacus Planning Group Inc. Makes New $220,000 Investment in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,023,175,000 after acquiring an additional 414,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,614,000 after acquiring an additional 445,304 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,189,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,485,000 after acquiring an additional 493,264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $82.03 on Thursday. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The company has a market cap of $146.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.76.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the 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 approximately $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 502,859 shares of company stock worth $41,161,496 in the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.