Aberdeen Group plc Sells 146,422 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc sold 146,422 shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation, reducing its stake by 14.4% to a total of 873,201 shares valued at approximately $79.67 million by the end of the quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Charles Schwab, with Vanguard Group Inc. raising its stake by 15.4% and now owning over 148 million shares worth approximately $11.62 billion.
• Charles Schwab announced a share repurchase plan allowing it to reacquire up to $20 billion in stock, indicating the board's belief that shares are currently undervalued.

Aberdeen Group plc decreased its position in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 14.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 873,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 146,422 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $79,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 15.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 148,395,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,616,380,000 after purchasing an additional 19,817,022 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 12.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 82,048,984 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,422,795,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 10.8% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,440,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,365,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,384 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 16.0% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 17,115,759 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,339,822,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 5.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,586,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,220,107,000 after purchasing an additional 743,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 590,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total value of $594,800.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,265.63. This represents a 34.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 267,128 shares of company stock valued at $26,232,077 over the last three months. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 2.1%

Charles Schwab stock opened at $92.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a one year low of $65.88 and a one year high of $99.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. The business's fifty day moving average is $94.97 and its 200 day moving average is $89.13.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Charles Schwab's revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SCHW. William Blair downgraded Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Charles Schwab from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Zacks Research cut Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $112.00 target price on Charles Schwab in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.57.

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.

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