Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 55,170 Shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,206,064 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 55,170 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.36% of Charles Schwab worth $1,791,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Charles Schwab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,673,901 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $432,536,000 after acquiring an additional 38,201 shares during the period. United Bank grew its stake in Charles Schwab by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 11,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth $1,754,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 141.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,099,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $71,278,000 after buying an additional 644,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 17.1% during the third quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 67,307 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,362,000 after acquiring an additional 9,839 shares during the period. 84.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $94.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their target price on Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Charles Schwab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total value of $38,057,761.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total transaction of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,818 shares in the company, valued at $4,586,123.76. This represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 509,701 shares of company stock worth $41,641,353. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE SCHW traded up $1.00 on Wednesday, hitting $78.67. 8,868,743 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,904,537. The Charles Schwab Co. has a twelve month low of $61.01 and a twelve month high of $84.50. The company's 50 day moving average price is $79.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $5.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Charles Schwab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is 36.12%.

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.