ProShare Advisors LLC Acquires 2,296 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 4.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 52,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,296 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $6,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 24.4% in the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 3.1% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Optas LLC increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 4.3% in the second quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 4.1% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 2,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on DFS. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.94.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 2.6 %

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $136.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.42. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $147.61.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $3.00. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $4.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 12.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 31.93%.

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; private student loans, 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.