California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 29,397 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 454,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 29,397 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $41,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,482,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,705,000 after purchasing an additional 130,410 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 5.3% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,311,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,651,000 after buying an additional 116,693 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 1.1% during the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,113,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $192,199,000 after buying an additional 22,408 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,660,180 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 2.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,975,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $179,614,000 after acquiring an additional 43,921 shares during the last quarter. 81.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on DFS. Barclays cut shares of Discover Financial Services from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $113.00 to $118.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $96.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.33.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE DFS opened at $92.24 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $87.64 and a 1 year high of $121.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 5.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 28.89% and a return on equity of 33.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were given 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 dividend yield of 2.60%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.49%.

Insider Transactions at Discover Financial Services

In other Discover Financial Services news, EVP Robert Andrew Eichfeld sold 13,477 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.18, for a total transaction of $1,538,803.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,509 shares in the company, valued at $3,597,697.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Robert Andrew Eichfeld sold 13,477 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 31,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,597,697.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,510,174. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Discover Financial Services Company Profile

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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.