Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on DFS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

DFS stock traded up $5.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $175.81. The company had a trading volume of 2,035,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,523,959. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $119.31 and a fifty-two week high of $205.76. The company has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $183.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. Equities research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DFS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,472,771,000 after acquiring an additional 80,601 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,308,409,000 after acquiring an additional 59,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% during 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 buying an additional 165,589 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $724,720,000. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.