B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Lowers Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lessened its stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,645 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $4,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DFS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,377,961,000 after purchasing an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,498,044 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,472,771,000 after buying an additional 80,601 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth $724,720,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Discover Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $351,766,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 worth $301,213,000 after acquiring an additional 10,528 shares during the period. 86.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on DFS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upgraded 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. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.40.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of DFS opened at $170.90 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $184.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.62. The stock has a market cap of $43.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.45. Discover Financial Services has a 12-month low of $119.31 and a 12-month high of $205.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

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

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.