Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $159.63, but opened at $170.52. Discover Financial Services shares last traded at $164.25, with a volume of 663,298 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $188.40.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 17.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,308,409,000 after acquiring an additional 59,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,826,000 after acquiring an additional 165,589 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $724,720,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,974,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $515,268,000 after purchasing an additional 826,287 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.