Caxton Associates LP Grows Position in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Caxton Associates LP grew its holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 83,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,166 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $3,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SYF. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 13,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 65.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 14,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 30,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 84,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,570,000 after purchasing an additional 9,339 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 1,609.6% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 4,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 4,507 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYF has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis Howse sold 31,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $1,420,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 121,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,890. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Synchrony Financial Trading Down 3.6 %

SYF stock traded down $1.59 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.75. 1,934,343 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,306,718. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.17, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.25. Synchrony Financial has a 12-month low of $27.30 and a 12-month high of $46.72.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.37 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $5.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 13.49%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Synchrony Financial will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 14.35%.

Synchrony Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.