Dodge & Cox Sells 618,873 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Dodge & Cox reduced its shareholding in The Charles Schwab Corporation by 0.7%, selling 618,873 shares, leaving them with approximately 88.75 million shares worth about $6.95 billion.
• Analysts have shown a generally positive outlook on Charles Schwab, with several raising price targets and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy." The stock has 16 Buy ratings compared to 3 Holds and 2 Sells.
• The Charles Schwab Corporation recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share and initiated a $20 billion share repurchase program, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

Dodge & Cox lowered its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 88,750,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 618,873 shares during the period. Charles Schwab comprises about 4.0% of Dodge & Cox's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Dodge & Cox owned 4.89% of Charles Schwab worth $6,947,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.4% during 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 increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 10.8% during 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. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.0% during 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. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 13,262,309 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SCHW shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded 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 research report on Monday, June 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.60.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $95.6510 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $93.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.96. 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 12 month low of $61.16 and a 12 month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

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

Charles Schwab announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,776,592.09. The trade was a 29.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 10,129 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $911,711.29. Following the sale, the insider owned 39,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,524,251.54. The trade was a 20.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 250,340 shares of company stock worth $24,250,303 in the last three months. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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