Charles Schwab Co-Chairman Walter Bettinger Exercises Options, Sells Shares

What Happened
Walter W. Bettinger, Co-Chairman and Director of Charles Schwab (SCHW), exercised stock options and immediately sold all shares acquired. On July 27–28, 2026 he exercised 285,896 shares (192,488 on 7/27 and 93,408 on 7/28) at $52.05 per share (total exercise cost $14,880,886) and sold the same 285,896 shares in open-market transactions for total proceeds of $29,773,915. The transactions produced gross proceeds of about $29.8M versus exercise costs of about $14.9M.

Key Details

• Transaction dates: July 27, 2026 and July 28, 2026. Codes: M = option exercise; S = open-market sale.
• Exercised: 285,896 shares at $52.05 (total reported exercise cost $14,880,886).
• Sold: 285,896 shares for total proceeds $29,773,915 (sales executed in multiple trades; weighted-average prices reported).
  • 7/27 sale: 192,488 shares @ $103.90 = $19,999,927 (F1: trades ranged $103.61–$104.27)
  • 7/28 sales: 42,265 shares @ $103.86 = $4,389,643 (F2: $103.51–$104.50); 38,263 shares @ $105.18 = $4,024,686 (F3: $104.51–$105.50); 12,880 shares @ $105.56 = $1,359,659 (F4: $105.51–$105.625).
• Net cash difference (proceeds minus exercise cost): approximately $14,893,029.
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the excerpt provided (see the filed Form 4 for post-transaction holdings).
• Relevant footnotes: F5/F6 refer to plan statements (June 30 and July 15, 2026); F7 notes 16.4043 shares from dividend reinvestment; F8 indicates the option was granted under the 2013 Stock Incentive Plan and vested in four equal annual installments.
• Filing timeliness: Form 4 filed July 29, 2026 for transactions on July 27–28 — appears to be filed timely.

Context
This is an option exercise followed by immediate open-market sales (common "exercise and sell" or cashless-style pattern), meaning the insider did not add to their net share position in this transaction. Sales after exercising options are frequently used to cover exercise costs, taxes, and diversify; they are routine insider liquidity events and not, by themselves, a clear signal of company outlook. Transaction codes: M = exercised options, S = sale.