SEB Asset Management AB Purchases Shares of 151,600 Synchrony Financial $SYF

SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 151,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,312,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,080,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,698,000 after acquiring an additional 191,920 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in 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 worth $907,356,000 after purchasing an additional 3,494,741 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,230,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,778,000 after purchasing an additional 442,226 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,490,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,108,000 after purchasing an additional 517,781 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 8.3% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,307,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,194,000 after purchasing an additional 406,796 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 51,258 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $3,651,107.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 132,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,449,656.72. This trade represents a 27.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 0.2%

Synchrony Financial stock opened at $73.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Synchrony Financial has a twelve month low of $63.08 and a twelve month high of $88.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.30.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.81 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.80%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 9.34 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 21st that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SYF shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Synchrony Financial from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.32.

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.