Jefferies Financial Group Increases Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Price Target to $145.00

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) had its price objective raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $137.00 to $145.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target suggests a potential upside of 15.68% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on DFS. HSBC increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $111.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $125.94.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 0.9 %

DFS stock traded up $1.08 on Friday, reaching $125.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,548,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,249,785. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.90. The firm has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $79.04 and a 12-month high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Discover Financial Services news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth $340,672,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,597,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $743,663,000 after buying an additional 3,102,119 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 489.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,999,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $220,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,180 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 239.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,027,686 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $227,912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,430,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,927,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $482,042,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,260 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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; 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.