Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Issues Earnings Results

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.59 EPS.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

DFS opened at $147.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $37.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.12 and a 200-day moving average of $130.75. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $79.04 and a 52-week high of $149.97.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.88.

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.