Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Price Target Increased to $123.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Barclays from $120.00 to $123.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 1.87% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on DFS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.94.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $125.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $79.04 and a 12 month high of $131.65. The business’s 50-day moving average is $122.02 and its 200 day moving average is $106.03.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88). The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.07 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 10.56%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total value of $3,748,193.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Prudential PLC grew its stake in Discover Financial Services by 127.4% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 16,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,846,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 8.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,650,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 33.8% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 27,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 5.2% during the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

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; 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.