Catalina Capital Group LLC Invests $201,000 in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Catalina Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DFS. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 439,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,693,000 after acquiring an additional 56,814 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 115,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,202,000 after acquiring an additional 10,946 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth about $239,000. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth about $282,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,415,000. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DFS shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.64.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of DFS stock opened at $198.42 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $181.78 and a 200-day moving average of $157.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $104.08 and a 12-month high of $205.76. The firm has a market cap of $49.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.54%.

Discover Financial Services 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; 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.