Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in a research report report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

DFS has been the subject of several other research reports. 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. Wolfe Research reiterated a peer perform rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $111.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $125.22.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $124.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.66. The company has a market cap of $31.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). The business 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 22.24% and a net margin of 14.30%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total value of $3,748,193.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,072,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,017,046,000 after buying an additional 475,579 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,686,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,652,000 after purchasing an additional 238,498 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,927,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $482,042,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,260 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,655,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $410,891,000 after purchasing an additional 217,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $340,672,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.