ProVise Management Group LLC Grows Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

ProVise Management Group LLC lifted its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 166,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $12,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,023,175,000 after purchasing an additional 414,949 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after purchasing an additional 445,304 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,858,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SCHW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $77.52 on Wednesday. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $61.01 and a 1 year high of $84.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.57. The stock has a market cap of $140.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company 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 business earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233. Corporate 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.