Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 6,000 Shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the first quarter worth $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 75.0% during the first quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 97.9% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab during the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 6,650.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.84, for a total value of $17,185,903.84. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 590,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,388,148.56. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nigel J. Murtagh sold 24,096 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.91, for a total transaction of $2,359,239.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,999 shares in the company, valued at $5,776,592.09. The trade was a 29.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 267,128 shares of company stock valued at $26,232,077. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SCHW. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Charles Schwab to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Saturday, September 27th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.52.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $94.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $95.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.64. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a one year low of $64.07 and a one year high of $99.59.

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

Charles Schwab declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given 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 1.1%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.03%.

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.