Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $1.98 EPS

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98, Zacks reports. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 22.08%.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE DFS traded up $8.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.98. The company had a trading volume of 3,342,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,513,642. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $99.07 and a one year high of $198.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $177.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.37. The stock has a market cap of $49.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.46.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upgraded Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $150.00 to $146.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.71.

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.