77,900 Shares in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Purchased by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 77,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,495,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DFS. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 7,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. now owns 2,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DFS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.91.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of DFS opened at $164.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $186.28 and a 200 day moving average of $168.46. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $119.31 and a 52-week high of $205.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.54%.

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.