King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 3,332 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,332 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $4,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in Discover Financial Services by 56.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,597,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $743,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102,119 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $322,199,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Discover Financial Services by 239.6% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,027,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $227,912,000 after buying an additional 1,430,637 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth $121,113,000. Finally, Palestra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 3rd quarter valued at $81,865,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $117.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $127.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 0.9 %

DFS traded down $1.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $123.17. The company had a trading volume of 197,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,003,045. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $125.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.35. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $131.65. The company has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($1.88). Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.07% 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 last year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 11.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.93%.

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.