Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) Short Interest Down 8.2% in October

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,480,000 shares, a decrease of 8.2% from the October 15th total of 4,880,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,550,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

Discover Financial Services stock traded up $2.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $86.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,266,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,366,935. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $79.04 and a 12-month high of $122.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $21.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.44.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.95 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 18.39% and a return on equity of 27.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Discover Financial Services will post 12.49 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 22nd will be issued 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 3.24%. Discover Financial Services’s payout ratio is 20.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $495,973,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth $340,672,000. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,597,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $743,663,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102,119 shares during the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Discover Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $247,100,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Discover Financial Services by 489.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,999,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $220,307,000 after buying an additional 1,660,180 shares during the last quarter. 83.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DFS has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens lowered their target price on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 20th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $115.00 to $108.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $100.00 to $99.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.53.

Discover Financial Services Company Profile

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.