Azora Capital LP Acquires Shares of 187,004 The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Azora Capital LP bought a new position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 187,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,120,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 126.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 65,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,773,000 after acquiring an additional 36,782 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in Charles Schwab by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 5,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 302.2% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 32.8% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 4,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.2 %

Charles Schwab stock opened at $82.76 on Monday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12 month low of $59.61 and a 12 month high of $83.35. The company has a market capitalization of $147.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 39.06%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In related news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $35,543,202.45. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $188,623.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.69. This represents a 11.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 127,968 shares of company stock valued at $9,419,271 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Cowen upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.56.

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.