Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.41 EPS

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DFS opened at $147.54 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $136.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.75. Discover Financial Services has a 52 week low of $79.04 and a 52 week high of $149.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.