Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in a research note released on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $136.53.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DFS opened at $154.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $139.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.39. The company has a market cap of $38.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $81.09 and a 12 month high of $157.06.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.15 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.93%.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 135.1% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 4,478 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 1st quarter worth about $983,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,835,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 62,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,197,000 after acquiring an additional 23,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forge First Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the first quarter worth approximately $13,341,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.