30 May, 2017
Discover Financial Services has far performed well this year, with the share price down -15.84% since January.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. It also reduced its holding in Thor Inds Inc (NYSE:THO) by 552,842 shares in the quarter, leaving it with 307,804 shares, and cut its stake in Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE:OMC). Insiders own 1.07% of the company's stock. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,681,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $456,961,000 after buying an additional 1,088,500 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 112.1% in the third quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the period. Reliance Trust Co. of DE increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 44.3% in the first quarter. 2,064,502 shares of the stock were exchanged. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,887,000. The stock of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has "Buy" rating given on Thursday, September 10 by Sterne Agee CRT. Bernstein upgraded the shares of DFS in report on Monday, October 5 to "Outperform" rating. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,674,732 shares of the company's stock, valued at $104,134,835.76. The stock has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.42. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $50.32 and a 52 week high of $74.33.
Stock is now moving with a negative distance from the 200 day simple moving average of approximately -5.9%, and has a poor year to date (YTD) performance of -15.84% which means the stock is constantly subtracting to its value from the previous fiscal year end price. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.01. Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) has risen 10.42% since May 22, 2016 and is uptrending. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. They expect $1.50 EPS, up 2.04% or $0.03 from last year's $1.47 per share. Discover Financial Services had 43 analyst reports since July 24, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This is built on a simplified 1 to 5 scale where 1 represents a Strong Buy and 5 a Strong Sell. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 9th. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.76%. If you are accessing this piece of content on another website, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of US & worldwide trademark & copyright law. If you are accessing this piece on another site, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of U.S. and global trademark & copyright laws. The correct version of this piece of content can be accessed at https://www.thestockobserver.com/2017/05/22/discover-financial-services-dfs-receives-average-recommendation-of-buy-from-analysts.html.
Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush set a $78.00 price target on shares of Discover Financial Services and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Oppenheimer Holdings now has a "Outperform" rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock.
Earnings per share (EPS) breaks down the profitability of the company on a single share basis, and for Discover Financial Services the EPS stands at 1.43 for the previous quarter, while the analysts predicted the EPS of the stock to be 1.44, suggesting the stock fell short of the analysts' expectations. Veritable LP holds 0.04% in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) or 25,082 shares. The mean target of $77.00 should be compared with the price when the stock was languishing around $49.32 a share. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 114,342 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,016. First Midwest Commercial Bank Trust Division has invested 0.28% in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS). The rating was maintained by Deutsche Bank with "Hold" on Thursday, February 18. The Company operates through two segments: Direct Banking and Payment Services.
