Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Sells 231,904 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lowered its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 56.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 231,904 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $13,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after buying an additional 23,383 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 5,937 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,586,123.76. This trade represents a 5.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock valued at $40,952,233 over the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 0.9 %

SCHW opened at $77.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $78.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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%. Charles Schwab’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

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

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.