The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Shares Sold by Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co reduced its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,290 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,261,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,644,674,000 after purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 28,679,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,858,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,617.6% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,707,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644,931 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 186.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,138,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,845,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on SCHW shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock valued at $39,938,849. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

SCHW stock opened at $79.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $140.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12 month low of $61.01 and a 12 month high of $84.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.34.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

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.