Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Price Target Raised to $98.00

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) had its price objective raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $95.00 to $98.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

SYF has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Synchrony Financial from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.00.

Synchrony Financial Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:SYF opened at $84.63 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a 52-week low of $40.54 and a 52-week high of $86.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.79 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 22.96% and a net margin of 15.84%.The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 15th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 32,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.80, for a total value of $2,329,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 127,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,252,880. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 12,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.02, for a total transaction of $894,605.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 108,271 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,219.42. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,075 shares of company stock valued at $4,036,892. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Synchrony Financial during the second quarter valued at about $299,360,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,595,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $907,356,000 after buying an additional 3,494,741 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,349,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416,909 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 149.4% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,803,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $127,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,389 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Synchrony Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,429,000. 96.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Synchrony Financial Company Profile

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is a consumer financial services company that specializes in providing point-of-sale financing and private-label, co-branded and branded credit card programs. The company serves as a payments and lending partner to retailers, digital merchants and service providers, offering consumer financing solutions designed to drive customer engagement and sales. Synchrony also operates a direct bank that offers deposit products, including savings accounts and certificates of deposit, which support its funding and customer-facing product suite.

Its core product set includes private-label and co-branded credit cards, general-purpose credit cards, installment loan programs and promotional financing options that are integrated into merchants’ checkout experiences.