Charles Schwab CEO and other insiders scoop up nearly $7 million in stock amid selloff
By Emily Bary
Schwab CEO Walter Bettinger bought nearly $3 million in shares alone
Executives and directors at Charles Schwab Corp. scooped up nearly $7 million worth of the financial-services giant's beaten-down stock Tuesday and Wednesday in an apparent vote of confidence in the company's ability to weather the ongoing bank rout.
Chief Executive Walter Bettinger led the way, purchasing 50,000 shares of Schwab (SCHW) at a weighted average price of $59.31, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission from late Tuesday. He paid a total price of $2.97 million.
Two fellow executives, President Richard Wurster and Chief Financial Officer Peter Crawford, each bought 5,000 Schwab shares Tuesday. Wurster bought at an average price of $57.28, for a total of about $286,000, while Crawford bought at an average price of $57.96, for a total of roughly $290,000.
Director John Adams Jr. joined them Tuesday in buying up 5,000 shares, doing so at an average price of $59.31 for a total of roughly $297,000.
Directors Todd Ricketts and Stephen Ellis were more aggressive with their purchasing, with Ricketts buying 10,000 shares Tuesday an average price of $56.79 a share and paying $567,862 in total.
Ellis, whose Schwab biography lists him also as a managing director of private-equity firm TPG, followed up his Tuesday purchase of 6,757 Schwab shares with a Wednesday purchase of 34,387 shares. He saw an average price of $56.08 a share for his Tuesday haul, spending about $379,000 on his stock purchases that day. He recognized an average price of $58.26 in his Wednesday buying spree, paying just over $2 million for that batch of shares.
The executives and directors spent $4.785 million in aggregate on their Tuesday stock purchases, while Ellis kicked in another $2 million of purchasing on Wednesday. The executives all bought at average prices below $60; Schwab shares closed March 8 at $76.20, before Silicon Valley Bank-fueled fears sparked a sharp selloff in many banking names.
See also: PacWest Bancorp insiders lost $900,000 after buying stock as it tumbled last week
Schwab, perhaps best known for its brokerage business, also offers banking services. Alongside Schwab's monthly business update Monday, Crawford shared why he thought the company remained "well positioned."
"Our approach to managing our assets is quite different than traditional banks," he wrote, noting that Schwab's "banks' loan-to-deposit ratio is approximately 10% and nearly all the loans are over-collateralized by first-lien mortgages or securities."
See more: Here's why Charles Schwab thinks Wall Street is being unfair
Schwab shares rose about 5% in Wednesday's session, leading S&P 500 gainers.
-Emily Bary
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March 16, 2023 08:30 ET (12:30 GMT)
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