Easterly Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,725 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,023 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $724,720,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $351,766,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 8.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,051,314,000 after acquiring an additional 558,227 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth $39,067,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DFS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of 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 downgraded Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $192.40.
View Our Latest Analysis on DFS
Discover Financial Services Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:DFS traded up $10.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $169.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,333,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,080. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $184.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $119.31 and a 1-year high of $205.76.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services's payout ratio is currently 17.54%.
Discover Financial Services Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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