Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Decreases Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 61.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 335.4% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 63,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,171,000 after buying an additional 49,145 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 238.7% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 14,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,662,000 after buying an additional 10,418 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 916,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,000,000 after buying an additional 16,532 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $1,073,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 121,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,685,000 after buying an additional 19,283 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on DFS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 5.7 %

NYSE DFS opened at $130.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $124.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.66.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 11.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.93%.

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; private student loans, 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.