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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 18.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $12.82 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 21.8%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE:DFS opened at $200.89 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $99.79 and a 1-year high of $204.93. The stock has a market cap of $50.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.21, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $177.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.68.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 13.78%. On average, research analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 14.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $233.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.71.

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; 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.