Columbia Asset Management Sells 455,281 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Columbia Asset Management significantly reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation, selling 455,281 shares, which marks a 94.7% decrease in ownership.
• Despite the sell-off, Charles Schwab reported better-than-expected earnings with $1.14 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.10.
• The company's Board of Directors authorized a stock buyback program worth $20 billion, indicating confidence in the stock's valuation, which allows for the repurchase of up to 11.6% of its shares.

Columbia Asset Management reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 94.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,677 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 455,281 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,343,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $11,616,380,000 after buying an additional 19,817,022 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,422,795,000 after buying an additional 8,954,248 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,365,227,000 after buying an additional 1,700,384 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,339,822,000 after buying an additional 2,355,309 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,586,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,220,107,000 after buying an additional 743,906 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $95.45 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.56 and a 200-day moving average of $88.33. The company has a market capitalization of $173.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.41 and a 52-week high of $99.59.

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

Charles Schwab announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total value of $2,359,239.36. Following the sale, the insider owned 58,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,776,592.09. The trade was a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total transaction of $17,185,903.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 263,923 shares of company stock valued at $25,932,955 over the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities boosted their price target on 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 set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $117.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. William Blair downgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.00.

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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