Amalgamated Bank Reduces Stock Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,281 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,147 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $6,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,281,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,692,000 after acquiring an additional 62,595 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $154,064,000 after acquiring an additional 73,902 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.5% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,162,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $152,066,000 after purchasing an additional 6,042 shares during the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the second quarter worth about $91,044,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 368.0% during the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 646,691 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,594,000 after acquiring an additional 508,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.81.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of DFS stock traded down $7.55 on Thursday, reaching $175.00. 3,350,408 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,669,760. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business's 50 day moving average price is $142.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.60. The company has a market capitalization of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.41. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $82.15 and a twelve month high of $188.26.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Discover Financial Services's payout ratio is 22.60%.

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.