Brokerages Set Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Price Target at $186.46

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $186.46.

DFS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 2.8 %

NYSE:DFS traded down $5.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $194.21. The stock had a trading volume of 2,476,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,652,495. 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 twelve month low of $118.74 and a twelve month high of $205.76. The company has a market capitalization of $48.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $162.43.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,377,961,000 after acquiring an additional 290,937 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,472,771,000 after acquiring an additional 80,601 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,308,409,000 after buying an additional 59,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,082,826,000 after acquiring an additional 165,589 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,720,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.