Cullen Investment Group LTD. Increases Stock Position in The Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW

Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its position in The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 979 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $2,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCHW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Charles Schwab from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Charles Schwab and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $117.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.60.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In related news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,205 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.20, for a total value of $305,116.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 37,983 shares in the company, valued at $3,615,981.60. This trade represents a 7.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 50,016 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total transaction of $4,851,552.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 298,214 shares of company stock worth $29,022,580 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 0.5%

Charles Schwab stock opened at $93.50 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $95.41 and its 200-day moving average is $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. The Charles Schwab Corporation has a 1 year low of $61.81 and a 1 year high of $99.59. The company has a market cap of $169.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

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

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

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.