Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Sterne Agee in a note issued to investors on Wednesday. They currently have a $46.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $45.00.

The analysts wrote, “We attended DFS’ analyst day and came away incrementally more positive as credit trends continue to improve and expense levels should not be any worse than feared. Reflecting incrementally less provisioning, we are raising our 2013 EPS estimate slightly. We are also raising our price target to $46. We believe that DFS is an outlier among large financial institutions with some of the best returns, good growth prospects, a very strong balance sheet, but one of the lowest valuations.”

Shares of Discover Financial Services traded up 2.21% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.06. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $30.48 and a 52 week high of $42.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $39.34. The company has a market cap of $21.422 billion and a P/E ratio of 9.45.

Discover Financial Services last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 20th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.00 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Discover Financial Services’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post $4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on DFS. Analysts at RBC Capital reiterated a “top pick” rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a $50.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services to $49.00 in a research note to investors on Wednesday. Finally, analysts at Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a $47.00 price target on the stock.

Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “overweight” and a consensus price target of $46.45.

Discover Financial Services (Discover) is a direct banking and payment services company. The Company operates as a bank holding company and a financial holding company.

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