Synovus Financial Corp Purchases 21,377 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $4,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $79.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $59.67 and a 52 week high of $83.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.45. The firm has a market cap of $141.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 27.47%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on SCHW shares. Barclays raised Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.75.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.05, for a total value of $576,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 554,929 shares in the company, valued at $35,543,202.45. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 127,968 shares of company stock worth $9,419,271 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.