Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 7,427 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 52,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,427 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $5,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. CWM LLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 10.6% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 4.1% during the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 61.6% during the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 15,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 5,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 17.8% during the third quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total value of $3,748,193.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,592 shares in the company, valued at $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DFS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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 lowered their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $117.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 2.1 %

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $129.30 on Wednesday. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65. The firm has a market cap of $32.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $122.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88). The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 10.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.93%.

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.