Quent Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 97.9% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 6,650.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 6,144 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.81, for a total transaction of $594,800.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,265.63. This trade represents a 34.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 173,876 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 267,128 shares of company stock worth $26,232,077 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Charles Schwab in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Charles Schwab from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.52.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 1.5%

SCHW opened at $94.13 on Friday. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 12 month low of $64.07 and a 12 month high of $99.59. 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 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $95.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.64.

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

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

Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.03%.

Charles Schwab 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.