Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Lowers Stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. trimmed its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 43,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,694 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,173,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,822,000 after acquiring an additional 61,353 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 18,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in Charles Schwab by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 7,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.02, for a total transaction of $192,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,391,674.38. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,014 shares of company stock worth $4,052,281. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SCHW shares. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.50.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCHW opened at $83.62 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $83.94. The stock has a market cap of $148.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $77.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

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.