Investors Purchase Large Volume of Charles Schwab Call Options (NYSE:SCHW)

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 43,705 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 26% compared to the average daily volume of 34,748 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $74,980.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,035,032.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 1,150 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $74,980.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,035,032.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $557,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 567,057 shares in the company, valued at $35,134,851.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,856 shares of company stock valued at $6,398,604 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. now owns 45,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,941,000 after buying an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 3.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 605,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,227,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Charles Schwab by 3.7% in the third quarter. Birch Capital Management LLC now owns 76,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,761 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 511,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,891,000 after purchasing an additional 79,166 shares during the period. Finally, Harrington Investments INC grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 3.6% during the third quarter. Harrington Investments INC now owns 56,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,664,000 after buying an additional 1,940 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $71.96 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Charles Schwab has a 1-year low of $48.66 and a 1-year high of $79.49. The company has a market cap of $127.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.97.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 26.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $82.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.82.

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.