C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Makes New $351.77 Million Investment in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,030,631 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $351,766,000. Discover Financial Services comprises about 12.4% of C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors' portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors owned about 0.81% of Discover Financial Services at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DFS. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 64,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,045,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 2.8% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 115.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 12.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 149,361 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,954,000 after buying an additional 16,863 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 74.3% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 5,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DFS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $186.46.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE:DFS traded down $5.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $194.21. 2,476,043 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,652,495. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $118.74 and a 52 week high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. 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%.

Discover Financial Services 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.