Lipe & Dalton Acquires New Shares in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Lipe & Dalton purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 115.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 12.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 149,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,954,000 after purchasing an additional 16,863 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $869,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the third quarter valued at approximately $138,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DFS. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.46.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of DFS stock opened at $194.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.87 and its 200 day moving average is $162.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.46. 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 has a 12-month low of $118.74 and a 12-month high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. Research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. 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.