Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 20.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,776 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aviva PLC raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 959,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,045,000 after buying an additional 411,437 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth $2,536,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at $35,403,000. Islay Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Islay Capital Management LLC now owns 5,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 65,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,847,000 after purchasing an additional 18,223 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Redburn Partners cut their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW stock opened at $69.79 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $78.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.92. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50. The company has a market capitalization of $126.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.43, for a total value of $261,713.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 45,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,152.32. This trade represents a 6.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 513,081 shares of company stock worth $41,903,066. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.