The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Short Interest Update

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,840,000 shares, a decline of 25.9% from the February 13th total of 22,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SCHW opened at $77.80 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.48. Charles Schwab has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 9,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $745,282.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,613,038.78. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total value of $699,397.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This represents a 31.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,289,544,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 354.5% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 11,005,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,545,000 after purchasing an additional 8,584,173 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 69.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,700,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $717,898,000 after purchasing an additional 3,974,940 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 742.0% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,181,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,451,000 after buying an additional 3,684,640 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 310.3% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,252,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,716,000 after buying an additional 3,216,000 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCHW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Company 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.