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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 21.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $13.39 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 20.9%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of DFS opened at $124.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $79.04 and a 1 year high of $131.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.66.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. Castleview Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $203,000. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the third quarter worth $199,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 7,460.0% during the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 380.1% in the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on DFS. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. HSBC raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $139.00 to $121.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.94.

Discover Financial Services Company Profile

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.