Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 929 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $ 2,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $ 225,394,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,099,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $ 242,629,000 after buying an additional 639,624 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,347,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $ 502,490,000 after buying an additional 501,073 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,364,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $ 734,302,000 after buying an additional 360,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 334.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 373,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $ 43,116,000 after buying an additional 287,176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.53% of the company stock.
A number of brokerages have weighed in on DFS. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $ 154.00 to $ 157.00 in a research report on Friday, April 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $ 145.00 to $ 150.00 in a research report on Friday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $ 144.00 to $ 127.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating and set a $ 97.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $ 139.63.
Shares of Discover Financial Services stock opened at $ 98.14 on Monday. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $ 98.01 and a 1 year high of $ 135.69. The firm has a market cap of $ 27.57 billion, a PE ratio of 5.79, a PEG ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $ 110.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $ 114.34.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $ 4.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $ 3.58 by $ 0.64. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 38.42% and a return on equity of 41.57%. The business had revenue of $ 2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $ 2.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $ 5.04 earnings per share. Discover Financial Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 14.86 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 26th were given a dividend of $ 0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 25th. This is a positive change from Discover Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $ 0.50. This represents a $ 2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 14.16%.
About Discover Financial Services: (Get Rating)
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.
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