Discover Financial Services Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:DFS)

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 14,669 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 449% compared to the average daily volume of 2,673 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DFS shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.40.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,472,771,000 after buying an additional 80,601 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,409,000 after buying an additional 59,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,826,000 after acquiring an additional 165,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $724,720,000. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS opened at $166.29 on Thursday. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $119.31 and a 1 year high of $205.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $41.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $185.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.63.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd 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 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 17.54%.

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.