StockNews.com Downgrades Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) to Hold

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on DFS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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 lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.71.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Discover Financial Services stock opened at $200.89 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $99.79 and a 1-year high of $204.93. The company has a market capitalization of $50.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $177.76 and a 200-day moving average of $153.68.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 13.78%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 14.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 14.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 439,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,693,000 after acquiring an additional 56,814 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,202,000 after buying an additional 10,946 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the second quarter valued at about $4,835,000. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the third quarter worth about $2,415,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.