FourThought Financial Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DFS shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price 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. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.91.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of DFS opened at $187.66 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $47.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.38. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $118.74 and a 1 year high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. 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.