Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on DFS. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $175.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.92. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $119.31 and a 52 week high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 17.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. CIBRA Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at $4,855,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 61,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares in the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,171,000. 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; 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.