GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SYF. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 26.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Synchrony Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 44.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,234,000 after acquiring an additional 22,344 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 8.0% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 197,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,029,000 after acquiring an additional 14,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 37.0% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 32,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $996,000 after acquiring an additional 8,809 shares during the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Synchrony Financial Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SYF opened at $44.67 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a 12 month low of $26.59 and a 12 month high of $45.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.91. The firm has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.41, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.61.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.19). Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 13.49%. The company had revenue of $5.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 14.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $264,584.78. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 152,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,534,503.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Brian D. Doubles sold 134,696 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.26, for a total value of $5,557,556.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 660,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,246,164.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $264,584.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 152,604 shares in the company, valued at $6,534,503.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,158 shares of company stock worth $6,106,106 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SYF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Synchrony Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.72.

Synchrony Financial Company Profile

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.