Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives $149.57 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $151.36.

Several research analysts have commented on DFS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $453,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 3.0% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 44,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,841,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 27.2% in the 2nd quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $176.06 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.67. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $96.46 and a 52 week high of $188.26. The firm has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.60%.

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.