Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

DFS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BTIG Research started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.94.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 2.0 %

DFS stock opened at $133.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.42. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $79.04 and a twelve month high of $147.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.02 and a 200-day moving average of $128.14.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $3.00. The company had revenue of $4.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 12.87 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 152.1% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the second quarter worth about $4,966,000. New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 143.6% during the second quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 3,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 2,208 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 69,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,097,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the second quarter worth about $476,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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; private student loans, 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.