Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.41 EPS

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS opened at $150.53 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $79.04 and a 12 month high of $152.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $136.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 31.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.88.

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; 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.