Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 62.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 525,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 866,821 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $91,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DFS. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 9,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Invst LLC boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 7,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $188.91.

Discover Financial Services Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Discover Financial Services stock opened at $185.02 on Monday. Discover Financial Services has a twelve month low of $119.95 and a twelve month high of $205.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $169.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.92. The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 26.18% and a net margin of 17.29%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.