Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Position Reduced by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,074,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 16,359 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.42% of Discover Financial Services worth $851,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 80,601 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 8.0% during 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $257,391,000 after acquiring an additional 12,255 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 5.1% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,281,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $167,692,000 after purchasing an additional 62,595 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DFS. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of 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. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $146.13.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

DFS stock traded down $2.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $175.64. The company had a trading volume of 748,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,656,416. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $163.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $96.46 and a one year high of $188.26.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.34 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services's payout ratio is currently 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.