Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Sells 4,895 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation by 4.9%, holding 94,083 shares worth approximately $7.37 million at the end of the 1st quarter.
• Various hedge funds have increased their investments in Charles Schwab, with institutional investors now owning 84.38% of the company's stock.
• Charles Schwab's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $1.14, surpassing expectations, and the company also initiated a $20 billion share repurchase plan.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. cut its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 94,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,895 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $7,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $11,616,380,000 after buying an additional 19,817,022 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 valued at $6,422,795,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,365,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,384 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 16.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,355,309 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,220,107,000 after purchasing an additional 743,906 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $58,388,148.56. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,776,592.09. This trade represents a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 298,214 shares of company stock worth $29,022,580. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE SCHW traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $93.50. 7,701,819 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,512,390. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $61.81 and a fifty-two week high of $99.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $95.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.76.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid 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 1.2%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Redburn Atlantic raised Charles Schwab from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $65.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. TD Securities lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, William Blair lowered Charles Schwab from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.60.

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.