Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Trading Up 5% – What’s Next?

Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) traded up 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $167.39 and last traded at $166.67. 487,689 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 1,502,135 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 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 company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $183.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted 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%. On average, analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $724,720,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth $351,766,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,974,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $515,268,000 after buying an additional 826,287 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $110,867,000. Finally, Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $100,993,000. 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.