Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 22,486 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,989 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 22,486 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.23% of Discover Financial Services worth $100,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.5% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 3.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 170,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $23,965,000 after purchasing an additional 6,364 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 14.4% in the third quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 3,440 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 56.8% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,792 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $953,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 7.7% in the third quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

DFS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock 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 stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS stock traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $164.90. 1,942,331 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,410,225. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $119.31 and a 52 week high of $205.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.