Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Price Target Raised to $135.00

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider's stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on DFS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $140.00 price target (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wolfe Research reissued a peer perform rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $125.22.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS stock traded down $2.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $123.10. 1,374,966 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,345,260. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $119.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.19. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.50 by ($0.96). The business had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 22.24%. The company's revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 11.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Discover Financial Services's payout ratio is 24.89%.

Insider Activity at Discover Financial Services

In other Discover Financial Services news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total transaction of $3,748,193.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 16,749 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,846,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 8.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,977 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,650,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 33.8% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 27,565 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,038,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 5.2% during the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,961 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Company Profile

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; private student loans, 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.