Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Acquires New Position in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 5.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 10.6% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 4.1% in the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Discover Financial Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $500,000. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Discover Financial Services by 61.6% in the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 15,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 5,869 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Discover Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE DFS opened at $126.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 1 year low of $79.04 and a 1 year high of $131.65. The business’s fifty day moving average is $122.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($1.88). The company had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.07 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 10.56% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.58 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Discover Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Discover Financial Services

In other Discover Financial Services news, CFO John Greene sold 35,191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total transaction of $3,748,193.41. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,980,233.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Discover Financial Services from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $107.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $116.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (up from $117.00) on shares of Discover Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.29.

Discover Financial Services 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.