Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Shares Acquired by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 117.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,253 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $1,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 46,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,520,000 after buying an additional 7,585 shares during the period. Invst LLC lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 7,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 27,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,820,000 after purchasing an additional 5,970 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 126,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.57.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 0.2 %

DFS stock opened at $176.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $164.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $96.46 and a one year high of $188.26.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 22.60%.

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.