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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 18.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $12.82 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 21.8%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of DFS traded up $8.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $197.98. The stock had a trading volume of 3,342,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,513,642. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.46. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $99.07 and a 1-year high of $198.97.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 13.78%. Sell-side analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 14.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $233.00 target price on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.71.

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; 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.