Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 290,937 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Discover Financial Services worth $5,377,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,472,771,000 after purchasing an additional 80,601 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,051,314,000 after purchasing an additional 558,227 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $351,766,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,834,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,391,000 after acquiring an additional 12,255 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,738,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,213,000 after acquiring an additional 10,528 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DFS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of DFS stock opened at $164.90 on Monday. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $119.31 and a 1 year high of $205.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.18 and its 200-day moving average is $169.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 17.54%.

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.