The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW Shares Sold by Bard Financial Services Inc.

Bard Financial Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 15.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 148,395,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,616,380,000 after acquiring an additional 19,817,022 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 82,048,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,422,795,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,248 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,440,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,384 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 17,115,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,339,822,000 after buying an additional 2,355,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Charles Schwab by 5.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,586,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,220,107,000 after buying an additional 743,906 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total transaction of $17,185,903.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,388,148.56. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total value of $594,800.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,265.63. This represents a 34.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 298,214 shares of company stock worth $29,022,580. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SCHW shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.60.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SCHW opened at $93.50 on Monday. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 1 year low of $61.81 and a 1 year high of $99.59. The firm has a market cap of $169.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 33.68%.The company’s revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Corporation will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is currently 29.03%.

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.