Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $129.78.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 3.1% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 5.5% during the first quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 6,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE DFS opened at $129.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.44. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $79.04 and a 52-week high of $133.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $125.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.05.

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

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 31.93%.

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; 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.