APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 358,531 Shares of Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS)

APG Asset Management N.V. lessened its stake in Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) by 72.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 358,531 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. owned about 0.05% of Discover Financial Services worth $22,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,045,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,377,961,000 after acquiring an additional 290,937 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Discover Financial Services by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,553,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,308,409,000 after acquiring an additional 59,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,826,000 after purchasing an additional 165,589 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Discover Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $724,720,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Discover Financial Services by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,974,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $515,268,000 after purchasing an additional 826,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DFS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised Discover Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $239.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com lowered Discover Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $169.00 to $129.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $262.00 to $219.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Discover Financial Services from $186.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $188.40.

Discover Financial Services Trading Up 15.5 %

DFS opened at $171.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.04 and a 200 day moving average of $171.56.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Discover Financial Services will post 13.88 EPS for the current year.

Discover Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Discover Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.