Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Upgraded by Barclays to Overweight Rating

Barclays upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Barclays currently has $186.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $137.00.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.86.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Discover Financial Services stock opened at $178.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $149.34. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $96.46 and a fifty-two week high of $188.26.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,314,000 after buying an additional 558,227 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% in the 3rd 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 valued at $257,391,000 after buying an additional 12,255 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 6.7% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

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.