Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) PT Raised to $123.00

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) had its target price increased by Barclays from $120.00 to $123.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 1.02% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on DFS. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up previously from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.94.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS stock opened at $124.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $31.14 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $79.04 and a 52-week high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88). The business had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 10.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prudential PLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 127.4% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 16,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake 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 valued at $1,650,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 5.2% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.