Discover Financial Services (DFS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 on June 6th

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 18.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $15.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE DFS opened at $201.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $178.30 and a 200-day moving average of $154.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.46. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $101.71 and a 12 month high of $204.93.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 27.52%. Sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on DFS shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $180.57.

About Discover Financial Services

Discover Financial Services, through its subsidiaries, provides digital banking products and services, and payment services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Digital Banking and Payment Services. The Digital Banking segment offers Discover-branded credit cards to individuals; personal loans, home loans, and other consumer lending; and direct-to-consumer deposit products comprising savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, IRA certificates of deposit, IRA savings accounts and checking accounts, and sweep accounts.