Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

DFS has been the subject of several other reports. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE DFS opened at $127.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $79.04 and a 12-month high of $131.65. The firm has a market cap of $32.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 11.39 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds 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 increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 475,579 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $492,652,000 after purchasing an additional 238,498 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $410,891,000 after purchasing an additional 217,475 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,199,000. Finally, Brave Warrior Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Brave Warrior Advisors LLC now owns 2,633,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,968,000 after purchasing an additional 251,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

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.