Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Has $419,000 Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 90.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,897 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth $235,000. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 345,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,989,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 12.6% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 54,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,989,000 after purchasing an additional 6,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 24,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCHW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned 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 $74.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total transaction of $587,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 585,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,198,371.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 65,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total transaction of $5,026,356.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 60,906,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,653,270,810.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.29, for a total transaction of $587,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 585,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,198,371.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 659,587 shares of company stock worth $47,399,731. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $76.40 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $135.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.55 and a fifty-two week high of $77.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.15.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 19.86%. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.84%.

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.