Versant Capital Management Inc Acquires 1,188 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 345.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Insider Activity

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 12,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.17, for a total value of $1,034,024.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,092 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,497.64. This trade represents a 17.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 62,345 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $4,521,259.40. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 60,619,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,396,116,784.92. This represents a 0.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 118,968 shares of company stock worth $8,842,821 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $74.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $132.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.99. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 12-month low of $59.67 and a 12-month high of $83.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $77.40 and a 200-day moving average of $70.64. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 27.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

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.