Ascent Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,787 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,511 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $6,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,578,230 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,516,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,901,484 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,279,742,000 after acquiring an additional 760,043 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at $1,289,544,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,739,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,164,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 10,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.39, for a total value of $889,280.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 47,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.46, for a total value of $4,201,850.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 96,088 shares of company stock worth $8,105,928. Insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of SCHW stock traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,791,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,371,231. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $89.85. The company has a market cap of $159.92 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $80.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SCHW. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup raised Charles Schwab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $102.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Charles Schwab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Charles Schwab from $96.00 to $84.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.63.

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.