Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.0526.

Several equities research analysts have commented on SYF shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

NYSE SYF opened at $71.6010 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $26.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.37. Synchrony Financial has a twelve month low of $40.54 and a twelve month high of $73.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.78. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is presently 14.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Curtis Howse sold 11,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,700.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,024,030. This represents a 9.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Darrell Owens sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.95, for a total transaction of $40,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 21,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,227.40. This represents a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,494 shares of company stock worth $1,376,450 in the last three months. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial during the second quarter valued at about $299,360,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Synchrony Financial by 34.6% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 3,494,741 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Synchrony Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $175,294,000. Sachem Head Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Synchrony Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $142,838,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Synchrony Financial by 340.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,512,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942,573 shares in the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.