Jonathan Mothner Sells 32,000 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Stock

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) insider Jonathan Mothner sold 32,000 shares of the company’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 directly 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 is accessible through the SEC website.

Synchrony Financial Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of SYF stock traded up $1.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.51. 5,567,632 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,869,280. The company has a market cap of $26.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.86. Synchrony Financial has a 1-year low of $40.54 and a 1-year high of $77.41.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.64. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 22.96% and a net margin of 15.84%.The company had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid 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 1.7%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.10%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 15th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Synchrony Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $299,360,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted 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 worth $907,356,000 after acquiring an additional 3,494,741 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Synchrony Financial in the first quarter worth $175,294,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 129.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,051,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,891 shares during the period. Finally, Khrom Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Synchrony Financial in the first quarter valued at $73,699,000. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Synchrony Financial from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Synchrony Financial from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $73.00 to $81.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

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.