Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Takes $987,000 Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $987,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,720,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at $351,766,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,974,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $515,268,000 after acquiring an additional 826,287 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 208.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 561,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,252,000 after acquiring an additional 379,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 period. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DFS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $150.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $180.36 and a 200-day moving average of $171.47. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $119.31 and a 52 week high of $205.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.