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

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

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised Discover Financial Services from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $107.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $123.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $119.00 to $111.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $120.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.33.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE DFS opened at $96.25 on Thursday. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $87.64 and a 52-week high of $121.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $25.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.26 and a 200-day moving average of $103.55.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 28.89%. Discover Financial Services’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Discover Financial Services

In other news, EVP Robert Andrew Eichfeld sold 13,477 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.18, for a total value of $1,538,803.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,597,697.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Robert Andrew Eichfeld sold 13,477 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.18, for a total value of $1,538,803.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,509 shares in the company, valued at $3,597,697.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carlos Minetti sold 7,000 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $826,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,510,174. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DFS. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $340,672,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 489.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,999,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,307,000 after buying an additional 1,660,180 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,927,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $482,042,000 after buying an additional 1,293,260 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth $101,642,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 51.2% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,636,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,801,000 after purchasing an additional 554,438 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.74% of the company’s stock.

About Discover Financial Services

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Discover Financial Services is a holding company, which engages in the provision of direct banking and payment services. It operates through the Direct Banking and Payment Services segments. The Direct Banking segment offers Discover-branded credit cards issued to individuals on the Discover Network and other consumer products and services, including private student loans, personal loans, home loans, and other consumer lending and deposit products.