K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Buys 16,600 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 39.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,600 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $4,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $78.68 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $140.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.38. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Charles Schwab’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. The trade was a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 487,820 shares of company stock worth $39,938,849 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

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.