Analysts Set Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) PT at $149.57

Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $151.36.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DFS shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $453,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 3.0% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,596,000 after buying an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 2.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 44,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,841,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of DFS opened at $176.06 on Thursday. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $96.46 and a fifty-two week high of $188.26. The firm has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $172.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 22.60%.

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.