Mackenzie Financial Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,720 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $3,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 23.1% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 619,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,078,000 after buying an additional 116,412 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 588.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 17,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,231 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 171,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 141.5% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 6,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 3,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 77,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,190,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.94.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE DFS opened at $136.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.42. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $79.04 and a 1-year high of $147.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $6.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $3.00. The business had revenue of $4.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.54 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 12.88 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 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.