Hills Bank & Trust Co Increases Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Hills Bank & Trust Co boosted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,046 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 29,775,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,634,700,000 after purchasing an additional 6,195,934 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 186.2% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,107,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $390,234,000 after buying an additional 4,624,302 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 134.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,300,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,986,000 after acquiring an additional 3,038,517 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,247,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,137 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3,123.9% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,360,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318,203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SCHW. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.47.

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Thursday, hitting $75.44. The company had a trading volume of 5,788,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,558,584. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.42 and a 200 day moving average of $65.23. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.55 and a fifty-two week high of $77.05.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 19.86%. The business had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 65,790 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total transaction of $5,026,356.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 60,906,686 shares in the company, valued at $4,653,270,810.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 65,790 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total value of $5,026,356.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 60,906,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,653,270,810.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 13,113 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.38, for a total transaction of $1,001,570.94. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,700,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,913,672.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 659,587 shares of company stock valued at $47,399,731 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

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.