Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Trims Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 387,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,643 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.16% of Discover Financial Services worth $43,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DFS. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,163 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the 3rd quarter valued at $500,000. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 61.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 15,392 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 5,869 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $140.00 target price (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE DFS traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $126.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,136,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,334. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.45.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 16.74% and a net margin of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of Discover Financial Services 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 owns 18,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.