First National Trust Co Lowers Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

First National Trust Co reduced its position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 29.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,155 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $2,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 7.9% during the third quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 2,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 335.4% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 63,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,171,000 after purchasing an additional 49,145 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 916,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $103,000,000 after purchasing an additional 16,532 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 121,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,685,000 after purchasing an additional 19,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 339,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,184,000 after buying an additional 72,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on DFS shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn cut Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. HSBC upped their target price on Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 0.4 %

DFS stock traded up $0.53 on Friday, reaching $125.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 811,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,064. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.25. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $79.04 and a 12-month high of $131.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.43.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 17.07%. 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 prior year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 11.69 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 31.93%.

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.