Intrust Bank NA Lowers Stock Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Intrust Bank NA trimmed its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 154 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $724,720,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $351,766,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,377,961,000 after acquiring an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,067,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $38,489,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on DFS shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 2.6 %

DFS stock opened at $158.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $119.31 and a 12 month high of $205.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 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 Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.54%.

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; 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.