Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 30,471 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 859% compared to the average volume of 3,179 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Discover Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in Discover Financial Services by 78.1% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DFS has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $193.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $188.40.

Discover Financial Services Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE DFS opened at $156.98 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 12 month low of $119.31 and a 12 month high of $205.76. The company has a market capitalization of $39.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.84, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.54%.

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; 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.