Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 118.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,498 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Synovus Financial were worth $645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Synovus Financial by 181.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,302,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,343,000 after buying an additional 838,932 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Synovus Financial by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,762,983 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,597,000 after acquiring an additional 491,036 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Synovus Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $19,434,000. Interval Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Synovus Financial by 74.2% during the 1st quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 388,674 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,570,000 after purchasing an additional 165,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Synovus Financial by 14.9% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,145,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,025,000 after purchasing an additional 148,842 shares in the last quarter. 83.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SNV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Synovus Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays increased their target price on Synovus Financial from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Synovus Financial from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Synovus Financial from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Synovus Financial from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.24.

Synovus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Synovus Financial stock opened at $58.46 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.38. Synovus Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $26.76 and a 52 week high of $58.66. The company has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.37.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.14. Synovus Financial had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The firm had revenue of $564.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $557.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Synovus Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Synovus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.78%.

Synovus Financial Profile

Synovus Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Synovus Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It operates through four segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, and Financial Management Services. The company's commercial banking services include treasury and asset management, capital market, and institutional trust services, as well as commercial, financial, and real estate lending services.