Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $65.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Synchrony Financial traded as high as $57.37 and last traded at $57.03, with a volume of 711359 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $55.75.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Synchrony Financial from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research cut Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.60.

Insider Activity at Synchrony Financial

In related news, insider Brian J. Sr. Wenzel sold 74,698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.73, for a total transaction of $3,490,637.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 76,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,563,209.23. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Synchrony Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,686,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $315,381,000 after acquiring an additional 313,128 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 66.6% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,374,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,892,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548,180 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 14.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,726,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $264,917,000 after purchasing an additional 727,649 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,496,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $150,748,000 after buying an additional 97,235 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Synchrony Financial by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,131,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,599,000 after buying an additional 492,312 shares during the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.61.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 13.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 6.28 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer financial services company in the United States. It provides credit products, such as credit cards, commercial credit products, and consumer installment loans. The company also offers private label credit cards, dual co-brand and general purpose credit cards, short- and long-term installment loans, and consumer banking products; and deposit products, including certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, and sweep and affinity deposits, as well as accepts deposits through third-party securities brokerage firms.