Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Receives "Hold" Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $180.00 target price on the financial services provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price points to a potential downside of 11.76% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on DFS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities cut their target price on Discover Financial Services from $188.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Discover Financial Services from $219.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $191.64.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS traded up $13.93 on Wednesday, reaching $204.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,473,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,645,674. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $119.95 and a fifty-two week high of $205.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.89 and a 200-day moving average of $176.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $51.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.16.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.92. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,489,000. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $282,000. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, JBGlobal.com LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $346,000. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company's stock.

About Discover Financial Services

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; 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.