Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Grows Stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 352.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DFS. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on DFS shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $188.91.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE DFS opened at $190.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $119.95 and a 1-year high of $205.76. The business’s 50 day moving average is $168.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.92. The company had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

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.