Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.70

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd.

Discover Financial Services has raised its dividend by an average of 15.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 21.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $13.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.9%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 3.7 %

DFS stock opened at $124.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.69 and a 200-day moving average of $105.66. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $79.04 and a fifty-two week high of $131.65.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on DFS shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $117.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $140.00 price target (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of Discover Financial Services 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Buckingham Strategic Wealth LLC bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth $201,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 3rd quarter worth $199,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 7,460.0% during the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865 shares during the period. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 380.1% during the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.