Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,650,000 shares, a growth of 10.3% from the August 31st total of 3,310,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.
Discover Financial Services Trading Up 3.3 %
NYSE:DFS traded up $2.97 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $93.89. 1,847,143 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,799,792. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $88.02 and a one year high of $133.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.72.
Get Discover Financial Services alerts:Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.75 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 36.35% and a net margin of 34.89%. Discover Financial Services's revenue for the quarter was down 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 24th. Discover Financial Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.63%.Institutional Trading of Discover Financial Services
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 146,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,190,000 after acquiring an additional 12,959 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,334 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 34,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,808,000 after buying an additional 8,042 shares during the period. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 55.4% in the 1st quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 3,589 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,381 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. 83.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DFS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Discover Financial Services from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Discover Financial Services from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Monday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Discover Financial Services from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Stephens increased their price target on Discover Financial Services to $107.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Discover Financial Services from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $123.38.
About Discover Financial Services
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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.
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