Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Has $2.61 Million Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. cut its stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 25.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,605 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,469 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $2,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,281,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,692,000 after acquiring an additional 62,595 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $154,064,000 after acquiring an additional 73,902 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,162,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $152,066,000 after purchasing an additional 6,042 shares during the period. Elser Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the second quarter worth $91,044,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC increased 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 valued at $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 Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of DFS traded up $2.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $176.07. The company had a trading volume of 3,174,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,199,510. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.41. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $84.03 and a 1 year high of $188.26. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $147.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.23 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio is 22.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DFS. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on 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. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.81.

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.