Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.6% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 84.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Charles Schwab from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Charles Schwab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.63.

Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:SCHW traded up $1.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $75.40. The company had a trading volume of 7,957,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,040,280. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $77.58 and a 200 day moving average of $70.60. The company has a market cap of $134.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.99. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $59.67 and a 1 year high of $83.35.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 27.47%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab's payout ratio is currently 39.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, Director Christopher V. Dodds sold 9,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.43, for a total transaction of $755,996.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 442,807 shares in the company, valued at $36,057,774.01. This trade represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan S. Beatty sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.02, for a total value of $192,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,069 shares in the company, valued at $1,391,674.38. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,823 shares of company stock worth $2,171,194 in the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.