Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.70

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Discover Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 21.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $13.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.5%.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of DFS stock opened at $135.32 on Wednesday. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $79.04 and a 52-week high of $147.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.58. The company has a market capitalization of $33.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $3.00. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.92%. The firm had revenue of $4.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 12.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DFS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.33.

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; private student loans, 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.