Parisi Gray Wealth Management Buys Shares of 1,168 Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Parisi Gray Wealth Management bought a new position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DFS. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 506.5% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 27.4% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DFS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised shares of Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.00.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of DFS stock traded up $6.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $176.06. The stock had a trading volume of 1,965,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,290,259. The company has a market cap of $44.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $96.46 and a 12-month high of $188.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.70.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. The firm 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 company earned $2.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.60%.

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.