Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 291,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,550 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Discover Financial Services worth $50,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 14.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 439,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,693,000 after buying an additional 56,814 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 10.5% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,202,000 after buying an additional 10,946 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on DFS. Barclays upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.46.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 1.5 %

DFS opened at $200.21 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $118.74 and a 12 month high of $205.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $50.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.43.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. As a group, research analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.54%.

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; 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.