Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $1.88 EPS

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88), Briefing.com reports. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 EPS.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 0.9 %

DFS opened at $125.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $79.04 and a one year high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 31.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DFS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $140.00 target price (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Discover Financial Services

In other Discover Financial Services news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total transaction of $3,748,193.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $250,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,543,000. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 125,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,147,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

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; private student loans, 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.