Unified Investment Management Purchases New Shares in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,306 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,483,000 after buying an additional 23,383 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,937 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 21,377 shares during the period. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 293.9% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Charles Schwab news, General Counsel Peter J. Morgan III sold 14,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.70, for a total value of $1,181,690.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 827,377 shares in the company, valued at $67,770,450.07. This trade represents a 35.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 491,200 shares of company stock valued at $40,206,950. Insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $94.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Charles Schwab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of SCHW traded up $1.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.88. The stock had a trading volume of 10,896,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,125,294. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $61.01 and a 1-year high of $84.50. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $78.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.85. The company has a market cap of $139.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a PEG 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The company's revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

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

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.