The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) Short Interest Up 70.5% in February

The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,740,000 shares, an increase of 70.5% from the January 31st total of 13,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on SCHW shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Charles Schwab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Charles Schwab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Performance

SCHW traded up $1.73 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,896,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,125,294. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company's fifty day moving average price is $78.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.83. Charles Schwab has a 52-week low of $61.01 and a 52-week high of $84.50. The company has a market capitalization of $139.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Charles Schwab will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Charles Schwab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. Charles Schwab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 491,200 shares of company stock worth $40,206,950. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Charles Schwab

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCHW. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the third quarter worth $25,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Charles Schwab in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

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.