New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 27,300 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Discover Financial Services worth $20,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inlet Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 17,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DFS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Barclays increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.81.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:DFS opened at $149.14 on Tuesday. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $82.15 and a twelve month high of $157.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.07. The company has a market cap of $37.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.41.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 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.