Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Makes New Investment in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DFS. Corebridge Financial Inc. lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 63,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,022,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,472,000. CMC Financial Group acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $226,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 174,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,191,000 after buying an additional 39,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of DFS stock opened at $170.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $119.31 and a fifty-two week high of $205.76. The company has a market cap of $42.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.36.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its 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 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. Equities analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 17.54%.

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.