FNY Investment Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 7,809 Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of DFS. State Street Corp grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,472,771,000 after buying an additional 80,601 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 8.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,314,000 after purchasing an additional 558,227 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,834,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,391,000 after purchasing an additional 12,255 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,728,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $242,460,000 after purchasing an additional 7,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,064,000 after purchasing an additional 73,902 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays raised Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.00.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $176.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.06. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $96.46 and a twelve month high of $188.26. The company has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. Research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.43 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 22.60%.

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.