Bridgefront Capital LLC Makes New $237,000 Investment in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Northern Oak Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northern Oak Wealth Management Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 155.1% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 85.3% during the second quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 982.4% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on Discover Financial Services in a report on Monday, November 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com began coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $123.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.33.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE DFS opened at $95.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $87.64 and a 1-year high of $121.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $110.18 and a 200-day moving average of $103.49. The firm has a market cap of $25.01 billion, a PE ratio of 6.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly 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. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 28.89% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.65 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.49%.

Insider Activity at Discover Financial Services

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

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.