Barclays Upgrades Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) to “Overweight”

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was upgraded by analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $186.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $137.00. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.66% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Eleven 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 company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.07.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 0.8 %

DFS opened at $177.72 on Monday. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $96.46 and a twelve month high of $188.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share 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 net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in DFS. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 558,227 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 368.0% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 646,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,594,000 after purchasing an additional 508,504 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 1,272.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 265,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,199,000 after purchasing an additional 245,829 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 67.1% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 478,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,606,000 after purchasing an additional 192,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the third quarter valued at $21,169,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by 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.