Abacus Planning Group Inc. Takes Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 6,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 12,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Index Fund Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Index Fund Advisors Inc. now owns 8,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 0.7 %

SCHW stock opened at $82.03 on Thursday. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $77.98 and its 200-day moving average is $72.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arun Sarin sold 8,548 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.82, for a total transaction of $699,397.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,523,242.94. This trade represents a 31.47 % 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. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,481,838.69. This trade represents a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 502,859 shares of company stock worth $41,161,496. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SCHW. Redburn Partners decreased their target price on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $94.00 target price (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.