The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW Shares Purchased by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 19,817,022 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,700,384 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.0% in 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 boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 595.7% in 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. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SCHW. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Sixteen equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.60.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $96.92 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $175.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.63. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 12-month low of $61.16 and a 12-month 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) 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. The business had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.64 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

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

Charles Schwab announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 11.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.57, for a total value of $249,574.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,219 shares in the company, valued at $1,332,727.83. This represents a 15.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman owned 590,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 241,693 shares of company stock worth $23,488,848. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.