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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 1.41%.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 14.2% annually 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Up 4.6 %

NYSE:DFS opened at $197.98 on Thursday. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $99.07 and a one year high of $198.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $49.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.68.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 22.08%. Equities analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 14.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $233.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.