Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Stock Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 573,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 163,783 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.23% of Discover Financial Services worth $99,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,152 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,158 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,411 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DFS. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded Discover Financial Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $191.64.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS stock traded up $1.61 on Tuesday, reaching $204.08. The stock had a trading volume of 2,578,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,655,909. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $119.95 and a 1 year high of $207.41. The stock has a market cap of $51.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.29.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

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.