J.Safra Asset Management Corp Makes New $60,000 Investment in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service grew 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 worth $61,693,000 after acquiring an additional 56,814 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.5% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,202,000 after acquiring an additional 10,946 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $282,000. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of DFS stock opened at $181.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.62. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $118.74 and a 1-year 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 company has a market cap of $45.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on DFS. Truist Financial upped their target price on Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.91.

Discover Financial Services 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.