Discover Financial Services (DFS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 on March 6th

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 22nd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.70 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%.

Discover Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 14.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Discover Financial Services has a payout ratio of 18.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Discover Financial Services to earn $12.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.8%.

Discover Financial Services Stock Up 1.7 %

DFS stock opened at $200.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $177.76 and a 200-day moving average of $153.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.10. Discover Financial Services has a one year low of $99.79 and a one year high of $204.93.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $1.98. Discover Financial Services had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 13.78%. As a group, analysts expect that Discover Financial Services will post 14.15 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Discover Financial Services from $148.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Discover Financial Services from $156.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised shares of Discover Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $137.00 to $186.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Discover Financial Services in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $233.00 price target for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.71.

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.