First Bancorp Inc ME Acquires Shares of 1,352 Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new position in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 58.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 34,226 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 61.0% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 48,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,288,000 after purchasing an additional 18,215 shares during the period. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 141.5% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 6,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 3,553 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 171,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC raised its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 588.8% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 17,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,331,000 after buying an additional 15,231 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DFS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Discover Financial Services from $185.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $146.00 to $169.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $170.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial began coverage on Discover Financial Services in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $233.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Discover Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.57.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DFS opened at $201.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.51. Discover Financial Services has a 52-week low of $101.71 and a 52-week high of $204.93.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 27.52% and a net margin of 17.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 12.82 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. Shareholders 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 1.39%. 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.