Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Cuts Stock Position in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV decreased its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 235,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,610 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $15,285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $347,903,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of 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 worth $163,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,573 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,183,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,922 shares in the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new stake in Synchrony Financial during the 4th quarter worth $35,986,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,083,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $200,756,000 after buying an additional 481,750 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SYF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $76.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Synchrony Financial from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Compass Point lowered Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.95.

Synchrony Financial Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE SYF opened at $54.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.64 billion, a PE ratio of 6.35, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.42. Synchrony Financial has a twelve month low of $40.55 and a twelve month high of $70.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.23.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.80 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 18.30%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 16.46%.

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.