Southeast Asset Advisors LLC Sells 8,666 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 49,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,666 shares during the period. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 6,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV grew its position in Charles Schwab by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 4,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 11,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCHW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $102.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners lowered 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 note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.94.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

NYSE:SCHW opened at $69.07 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.90. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. The firm has a market cap of $125.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change 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 1.56%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 513,081 shares of company stock worth $41,903,066. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Charles Schwab

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.