Apollon Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Discover Financial Services were worth $586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DFS. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Discover Financial Services by 0.5% during the third quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,034,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.4% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 17,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Discover Financial Services by 24.4% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 86.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DFS. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Discover Financial Services from $152.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Discover Financial Services has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.81.

Discover Financial Services Stock Performance

Discover Financial Services stock opened at $176.07 on Friday. Discover Financial Services has a 1-year low of $84.03 and a 1-year high of $188.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.91.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.36 billion. Discover Financial Services had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 21.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 13.22 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, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.60%.

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.