First Eagle Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lowered its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,175,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 392,250 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.18% of Charles Schwab worth $235,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Charles Schwab by 0.7% during the 3rd 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 increased its position in Charles Schwab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,141,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,614,000 after purchasing an additional 445,304 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,711,312 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,157,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Charles Schwab by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,455,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,513,894,000 after purchasing an additional 265,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Charles Schwab stock opened at $73.49 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $78.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. 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 Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $61.01 and a one year high of $84.50.

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

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SCHW. TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Redburn Partners lowered their price target on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.