Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 11,340 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 33.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,886 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,340 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 380.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 19,195 shares during the period. Optas LLC lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 7,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,173,108 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $86,822,000 after purchasing an additional 61,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at $1,961,000. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SCHW. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.63.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 8,614 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $689,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,204 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,936,320. This represents a 14.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frank C. Herringer sold 3,592 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $266,741.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 172,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,784,750.12. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 97,608 shares of company stock valued at $8,392,040. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of SCHW stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.25. 4,858,045 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,380,778. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $81.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.58. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $89.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is 32.73%.

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.