Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,472,771,000 after acquiring an additional 80,601 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 8.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,493,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,314,000 after acquiring an additional 558,227 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at $351,766,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,834,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,391,000 after acquiring an additional 12,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,738,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,213,000 after acquiring an additional 10,528 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:DFS opened at $164.90 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $41.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.86. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $119.31 and a 12 month high of $205.76.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 17.29% and a return on equity of 26.18%. Analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.54%.

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.