Americana Partners LLC Has $7.78 Million Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Americana Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 1,228.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 105,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,244 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $7,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mainsail Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Keystone Financial Services raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 18,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 50.6% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 1,706 shares during the period. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 28,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,108,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.17, for a total transaction of $1,034,024.63. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,796,497.64. This represents a 17.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 502,859 shares of company stock valued at $41,161,496. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.5 %

SCHW stock opened at $80.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.40. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50. The stock has a market cap of $142.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released 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 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 business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is presently 33.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.56.

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.