Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 14,669 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 449% compared to the typical volume of 2,673 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DFS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,489,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,202,000 after acquiring an additional 10,946 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $282,000. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $239,000. Finally, Mechanics Bank Trust Department purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 0.2 %

DFS opened at $169.86 on Wednesday. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $119.31 and a 1-year high of $205.76. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $42.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.65.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.54%.

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.