Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $146.13.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of DFS opened at $175.64 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $96.46 and a fifty-two week high of $188.26. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $163.02 and its 200 day moving average is $142.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Invst LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 7,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. now owns 2,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,034,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inlet Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

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.