Ariel Investments LLC Decreases Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Ariel Investments LLC reduced its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 580,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 89,191 shares during the quarter. Ariel Investments LLC's holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $42,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $432,536,000 after buying an additional 38,201 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 21,377 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 75.4% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 43,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,804,000 after purchasing an additional 18,825 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 345.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $94.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Charles Schwab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Charles Schwab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.22.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.6 %

SCHW traded down $0.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.87. The stock had a trading volume of 5,722,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,374,932. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $150.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 9,559 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total transaction of $783,838.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 503,041 shares of company stock valued at $41,072,558 over the last 90 days. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Company 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.