Kitching Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 2,987 The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Kitching Partners LLC has acquired a new stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation, purchasing 2,987 shares valued at approximately $234,000, which now represents around 0.3% of their investment portfolio.
• Charles Schwab recently authorized a share buyback plan of $20 billion, indicating the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share.
• In the latest quarter, Charles Schwab reported earnings of $1.14 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenues up 24.8% year-over-year, amounting to $5.85 billion.

Kitching Partners LLC acquired a new stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,987 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $234,000. Charles Schwab comprises 0.3% of Kitching Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 12.3% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 10.8% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 5.0% during the 1st 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. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Charles Schwab by 595.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,488,777 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,212,461,000 after purchasing an additional 13,262,309 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of SCHW stock traded down $1.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $95.91. 8,829,399 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,885,997. The firm has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.96. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $99.59. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.83.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $5.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. Charles Schwab's quarterly revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares in the company, valued at $58,388,148.56. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the 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 owned 58,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,776,592.09. This represents a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 298,299 shares of company stock worth $29,005,931 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on SCHW. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.60.

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.