The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW Shares Purchased by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation by 56.3%, owning over 2.18 million shares after purchasing an additional 786,300 shares in the first quarter.
• The Charles Schwab Corporation reported a 24.8% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reaching $5.85 billion, with earnings per share of $1.14, surpassing analysts' estimates.
• The company has declared a $20 billion stock buyback program, allowing them to repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares, signaling management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 56.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,184,039 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 786,300 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.12% of Charles Schwab worth $170,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,455,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 39,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 4,754 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,181,563 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $92,493,000 after buying an additional 68,858 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 248.3% in the 4th quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 112,376 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,317,000 after buying an additional 80,112 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 163,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,760,000 after buying an additional 11,505 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In related news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total value of $2,359,239.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 58,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,776,592.09. This trade represents a 29.00% 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, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 298,214 shares of company stock valued at $29,022,580. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of Charles Schwab stock traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $97.65. 7,501,007 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,538,955. The business has a 50-day moving average of $95.15 and a 200 day moving average of $86.25. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $99.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

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

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SCHW. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. William Blair cut Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.60.

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.