Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,938,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 141,254 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.11% of Charles Schwab worth $152,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,076,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,023,175,000 after purchasing an additional 414,949 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,614,000 after buying an additional 445,304 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 6.3% during 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 buying an additional 1,711,312 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 15.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,513,894,000 after acquiring an additional 265,708 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,586,123.76. This trade represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:SCHW opened at $74.58 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $61.01 and a 12-month high of $84.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.92. The firm has a market cap of $135.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCHW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.