Denali Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Denali Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the third quarter worth $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DFS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.91.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 1.4 %

DFS opened at $190.36 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $164.56. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $118.74 and a 52 week 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. The stock has a market cap of $47.90 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. As a group, research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.