Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $191.91.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on DFS shares. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial boosted 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 report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE:DFS opened at $187.66 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $164.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.46. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $118.74 and a 1-year high of $205.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,409,000 after acquiring an additional 59,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 2.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 165,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth $724,720,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Discover Financial Services Company Profile

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.