Eastern Bank Makes New Investment in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

Eastern Bank purchased a new position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 548.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 327,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,241,000 after buying an additional 277,165 shares during the last quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sweeney & Michel LLC now owns 6,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 4,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,525,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Charles Schwab by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. 84.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Charles Schwab Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of SCHW opened at $71.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.52. The company has a market capitalization of $127.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1-year low of $49.16 and a 1-year high of $79.49.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 27.47% and a return on equity of 17.52%. Charles Schwab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.84%.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 1,150 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $74,980.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,035,032.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Charles Schwab news, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 1,150 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $74,980.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 61,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,035,032.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carolyn Schwab-Pomerantz sold 12,320 shares of Charles Schwab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.10, for a total transaction of $802,032.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 562,129 shares in the company, valued at $36,594,597.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 182,001 shares of company stock valued at $12,512,592 over the last three months. 6.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCHW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $77.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $76.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $79.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.94.

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.