Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives $186.46 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $191.91.

DFS has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Barclays increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS opened at $191.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $48.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.75. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 115.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 12.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 149,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,954,000 after buying an additional 16,863 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 16.3% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $869,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 4.0% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.