Brooklyn Investment Group Increases Stock Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 14,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,051,314,000 after buying an additional 558,227 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 214.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 7,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 671,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,516,000 after buying an additional 104,460 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.81.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $182.59 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $154.16 and its 200 day moving average is $138.66. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $85.19 and a fifty-two week high of $188.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.60%.

Discover Financial Services Profile

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.