17,072 Shares in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Acquired by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,072 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,957,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,377,961,000 after buying an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,308,409,000 after buying an additional 59,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,082,826,000 after buying an additional 165,589 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,720,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,974,471 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $515,268,000 after purchasing an additional 826,287 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on DFS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Securities cut their target price on Discover Financial Services from $188.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $188.91.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS traded down $2.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $185.02. 1,546,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,610,533. The business's 50 day moving average price is $169.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $46.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $119.95 and a 1 year high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.92. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. The company had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.25 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current year.

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.