Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Increases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 987,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 165,312 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $73,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 1,309.3% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 8,614 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $689,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,204 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,320. This trade represents a 14.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 509,701 shares of company stock valued at $41,641,353. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 2.3 %

SCHW stock opened at $77.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $141.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.36. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.