7,809 Shares in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Purchased by FNY Investment Advisers LLC

FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,809 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DFS. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $1,472,771,000 after purchasing an additional 80,601 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,834,705 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $257,391,000 after acquiring an additional 12,255 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,728,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $242,460,000 after acquiring an additional 7,751 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $154,064,000 after purchasing an additional 73,902 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DFS shares. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $164.75.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 3.1 %

DFS stock traded up $5.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $181.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,051,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,260,439. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $96.46 and a 52 week high of $188.26. The stock has a market cap of $45.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $176.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.42.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services's payout ratio is 22.60%.

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.