Hickory Asset Management Inc. Invests $1.30 Million in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Hickory Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 17,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,301,000. Charles Schwab makes up approximately 1.1% of Hickory Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE SCHW traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $81.49. 9,763,609 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,695,886. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $61.01 and a 52 week high of $84.50. The stock has a market cap of $145.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.99.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is presently 33.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 827,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $67,770,450.07. This represents a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $188,623.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,481,838.69. The trade was a 11.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 502,859 shares of company stock worth $41,161,496 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

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.