Empirical Finance LLC Raises Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $1,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DFS. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,281,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,692,000 after buying an additional 62,595 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,181,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,064,000 after acquiring an additional 73,902 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.5% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,162,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,066,000 after acquiring an additional 6,042 shares during the last quarter. Elser Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $91,044,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC increased its position in Discover Financial Services by 368.0% during the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 646,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,594,000 after purchasing an additional 508,504 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of DFS stock opened at $176.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.98. The company has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.41. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $84.03 and a twelve month high of $188.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.41. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 13.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 22.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DFS shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.81.

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.