Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Shares Sold by Stolper Co

Stolper Co trimmed its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 545 shares during the quarter. Discover Financial Services accounts for about 3.0% of Stolper Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Stolper Co’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $8,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,472,771,000 after purchasing an additional 80,601 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,314,000 after purchasing an additional 558,227 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,834,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $257,391,000 after purchasing an additional 12,255 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,728,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,460,000 after purchasing an additional 7,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,064,000 after buying an additional 73,902 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DFS has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $233.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.75.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS stock opened at $187.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.42. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $96.46 and a fifty-two week high of $188.99.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current year.

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.