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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st.

Discover Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 21.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Down 1.6 %

NYSE:DFS opened at $173.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $85.19 and a 12-month high of $188.26.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 13.78%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.23 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on 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, StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.81.

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; 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.