Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $1.88 EPS

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88), Briefing.com reports. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.58 EPS.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:DFS traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,548,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,126,981. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.90. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $79.04 and a 12-month high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DFS shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Discover Financial Services news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total transaction of $3,748,193.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Aspire Private Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 274.6% in the 1st quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 1,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. 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; 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.