Empirical Finance LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 2.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,052 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $3,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Charles Schwab stock opened at $80.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $55.09 and a 1 year high of $82.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $68.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.54. The company has a market cap of $142.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.96.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 27.47%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 62,345 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $4,521,259.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 60,619,371 shares in the company, valued at $4,396,116,784.92. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.05, for a total transaction of $576,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 554,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,543,202.45. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 103,645 shares of company stock valued at $7,440,627. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Charles Schwab from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.18.

Charles Schwab Profile

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.