Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 6,599 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,466 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,599 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $4,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 506.5% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 188 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 78.1% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 37.1% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 292 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on DFS. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $233.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on 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. Finally, 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $186.46.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DFS traded down $6.44 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.34. The company had a trading volume of 3,948,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,540,502. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.46. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $107.10 and a 12 month high of $205.76. 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 (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.54%.

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.