Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $191.91.

A number of research analysts have commented on DFS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial lifted 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,377,961,000 after buying an additional 290,937 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,472,771,000 after buying an additional 80,601 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,409,000 after buying an additional 59,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,082,826,000 after buying an additional 165,589 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $724,720,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DFS opened at $152.59 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.39. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $119.31 and a 12 month high of $205.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.54%.

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.