Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 11,813 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS – Get Rating) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 624,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,813 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.23% of Discover Financial Services worth $56,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 15,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 3,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. JBF Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 2.9% during the third quarter. JBF Capital Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Folios Inc increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.9% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 6,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 81.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DFS opened at $97.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.30, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $87.64 and a 52 week high of $121.17.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 33.88% and a net margin of 28.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 15.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Discover Financial Services news, EVP Carlos Minetti sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $826,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,493 shares in the company, valued at $13,510,174. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Robert Andrew Eichfeld sold 13,477 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.18, for a total transaction of $1,538,803.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,509 shares in the company, valued at $3,597,697.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carlos Minetti sold 7,000 shares of Discover Financial Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $826,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,510,174. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DFS shares. Bank of America cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut Discover Financial Services from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $96.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Barclays downgraded Discover Financial Services from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $120.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Monday, November 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.20.

Discover Financial Services Profile

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Discover Financial Services is a holding company, which engages in the provision of direct banking and payment services. It operates through the Direct Banking and Payment Services segments. The Direct Banking segment offers Discover-branded credit cards issued to individuals on the Discover Network and other consumer products and services, including private student loans, personal loans, home loans, and other consumer lending and deposit products.