Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 932 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $340,672,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at $247,100,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 489.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,999,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $220,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,180 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 168.1% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,570,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611,947 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,577,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $551,386,000 after buying an additional 1,452,811 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DFS has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 16th. TD Cowen started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays started coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, November 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $100.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.53.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 0.7 %

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $86.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.45, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.44. Discover Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $79.04 and a fifty-two week high of $122.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $86.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.18 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 billion. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 27.23% and a net margin of 18.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.54 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 12.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.77%.

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.