Traders Purchase Large Volume of Charles Schwab Put Options (NYSE:SCHW)

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 26,195 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 24% compared to the typical daily volume of 21,054 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial set a $115.00 price target on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Friday, October 16th. Evercore set a $98.00 target price on Charles Schwab in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Charles Schwab from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.91.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of SCHW stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,697,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,000,302. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.78 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.85. Charles Schwab has a 12-month low of $83.96 and a 12-month high of $114.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.18 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 25.79% and a net margin of 39.33%. The business’s revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Charles Schwab will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Charles Schwab’s payout ratio is 21.84%.

Insider Transactions at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter Bettinger sold 176,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.49, for a total transaction of $19,998,072.90. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 610,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,269,756.40. This represents a 22.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Beatty sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.33, for a total transaction of $111,330.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,738 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,461.54. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 285,734 shares of company stock valued at $32,073,309. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Charles Schwab

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 288,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,068,000 after buying an additional 12,789 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.9% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 384,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,790,000 after buying an additional 14,538 shares during the period. Financial Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,199,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 33,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,299,000 after purchasing an additional 17,068 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Charles Schwab by 91.9% during the first quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 204,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,195,000 after acquiring an additional 97,829 shares in the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) is a financial services company that provides investment, wealth management, banking and related services to individual investors, financial professionals and institutional clients. Through its brokerage business, Schwab offers trading and custody services for stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, options, fixed-income securities and other investments, along with retirement accounts and investment research tools.

The company also provides advisory and wealth management services, including managed portfolios, financial planning and support for registered investment advisors.