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

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given 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 yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 22.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $12.94 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 21.6%.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of DFS opened at $150.53 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average price of $136.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.89. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $79.04 and a fifty-two week high of $152.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.41.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 20.92% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $135.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.88.

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.