Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $182.64.

DFS has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DFS. AXA S.A. raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 141.5% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 6,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after acquiring an additional 3,553 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 171,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 588.8% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 17,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,231 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 619,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,078,000 after purchasing an additional 116,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 63,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE DFS opened at $201.09 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.47. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $104.08 and a fifty-two week high of $205.76. The stock has a market cap of $50.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. On average, analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.39 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 Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 17.54%.

Discover Financial Services Company 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.