Balefire LLC Has $1.28 Million Stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Balefire LLC significantly reduced its position in The Charles Schwab Corporation by 56.8%, now holding only 14,017 shares after selling 18,454 shares in the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Charles Schwab, with Svenska Handelsbanken AB notably boosting its holdings by 358.1%.
• Charles Schwab reported a 24.8% year-over-year revenue increase, posting $5.85 billion in revenue for the last quarter, along with a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share.

Balefire LLC reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 18,454 shares during the period. Balefire LLC's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 148,395,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,616,380,000 after buying an additional 19,817,022 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 595.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,488,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,212,461,000 after acquiring an additional 13,262,309 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 229.3% during the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,002,078 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,096,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,749,728 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 12.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,954,248 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the first quarter worth about $440,699,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

NYSE SCHW traded up $0.99 on Friday, reaching $94.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,854,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,421,421. The firm has a market cap of $171.12 billion, a PE ratio of 25.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $95.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.33. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.41 and a 52 week high of $99.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

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

Charles Schwab announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SCHW shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Charles Schwab from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.00.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total transaction of $2,359,239.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,776,592.09. This represents a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total transaction of $594,800.64. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,265.63. This represents a 34.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 267,213 shares of company stock valued at $26,232,180. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Charles Schwab 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.