Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 186,531 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 38.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 668,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 186,531 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Discover Financial Services worth $75,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,597,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $743,663,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102,119 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Discover Financial Services by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,686,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,652,000 after purchasing an additional 238,498 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,578,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,337,000 after purchasing an additional 20,333 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 30.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,233,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,473,000 after purchasing an additional 526,951 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 239.6% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,027,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $227,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,430,637 shares in the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 0.4 %

DFS stock opened at $125.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.43. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $79.04 and a twelve month high of $131.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $124.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.07 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 17.07%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 11.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.93%.

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; private student loans, 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.