Charles Schwab Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SCHW)

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 32,045 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the typical volume of 22,009 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on SCHW shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $92.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.56.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In related news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 10,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 71,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,172,690.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 10,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.40, for a total transaction of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 71,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,172,690.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.49, for a total value of $652,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 570,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,366,925.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 658,663 shares of company stock worth $48,997,146 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 60.0% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $73.69 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.42 and a 200 day moving average of $69.78. Charles Schwab has a 1 year low of $48.66 and a 1 year high of $79.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.96.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 26.14%. As a group, research analysts expect that Charles Schwab will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.