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

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,740,000 shares, a growth of 70.5% from the January 31st total of 13,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SCHW shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Redburn Partners dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of SCHW traded down $1.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $78.08. 9,983,997 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,073,562. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.76. Charles Schwab has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 1.38%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 36.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total transaction of $1,181,690.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 487,820 shares of company stock valued at $39,938,849. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

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.