Sepio Capital LP Has $2.94 Million Holdings in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Key Points

• Sepio Capital LP reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Corporation by 16.4% during the 1st quarter, holding shares valued at $2.94 million after selling 7,367 shares.
• Insider sales at Charles Schwab included 24,096 shares sold by Nigel J. Murtagh and 6,144 shares sold by Jonathan S. Beatty, indicating a significant decrease in their ownership.
• The company is planning a $20 billion share repurchase program, signaling the board's belief that the stock is currently undervalued.

Sepio Capital LP decreased its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 16.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 37,547 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,367 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,986 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 19,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,509,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC raised its position in Charles Schwab by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,192 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total transaction of $594,800.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,265.63. This represents a 34.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total transaction of $2,359,239.36. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,999 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 298,214 shares of company stock valued at $29,022,580. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price target on Charles Schwab and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Sixteen investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.60.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 0.2%

Charles Schwab stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $93.66. 10,771,963 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,476,118. The stock has a market cap of $170.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $95.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.52. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $99.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Charles Schwab declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership 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 given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.03%.

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.