Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Price Target Raised to $163.00

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) had its target price increased by Evercore ISI from $156.00 to $163.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the financial services provider's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $136.53.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of Discover Financial Services stock traded up $3.70 on Wednesday, hitting $154.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,302,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,814. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $139.45 and a 200 day moving average of $132.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.12. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $81.09 and a twelve month high of $157.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.92%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.93%.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.1% during 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 buying an additional 62,595 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $154,064,000 after purchasing an additional 73,902 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,162,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $152,066,000 after purchasing an additional 6,042 shares in the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the second quarter worth $91,044,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 368.0% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 646,691 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $84,594,000 after buying an additional 508,504 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.