Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Short Interest Up 16.2% in January

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,440,000 shares, a growth of 16.2% from the January 15th total of 2,960,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $186.46.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of DFS traded down $5.69 on Friday, hitting $194.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,476,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,652,495. 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 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 has a fifty-two week low of $118.74 and a fifty-two week high of $205.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.92.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio is 17.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,152 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,158 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,411 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company's stock.

Discover Financial Services Company 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.