ASB Consultores LLC Trims Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

ASB Consultores LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 51.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,989 shares during the quarter. ASB Consultores LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Charles Schwab by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,963,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,750,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,823 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Charles Schwab by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 72,306,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,230,657,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,327 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Charles Schwab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,623,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,281,297,000 after purchasing an additional 292,155 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in Charles Schwab by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 12,237,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $841,954,000 after purchasing an additional 560,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Charles Schwab by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,668,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Walter W. Bettinger purchased 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $66.26 per share, with a total value of $1,656,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,822,000.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Charles Schwab news, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $557,640.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 567,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,134,851.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Walter W. Bettinger purchased 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.26 per share, for a total transaction of $1,656,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $54,822,000.02. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 90,636 shares of company stock valued at $5,880,654 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $64.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $115.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.97. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $48.66 and a 52 week high of $79.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.68 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.30% and a return on equity of 18.14%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.84%.

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.