Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Stock Price

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

SYF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Synchrony Financial from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.17.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Synchrony Financial stock opened at $72.90 on Wednesday. Synchrony Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.54 and a fifty-two week high of $73.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.46.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 21.34%. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 14.56%.

Insider Activity at Synchrony Financial

In other news, insider Curtis Howse sold 11,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 108,062 shares in the company, valued at $7,024,030. The trade was a 9.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 40,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.07, for a total value of $2,441,184.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 146,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,807,943.96. This represents a 21.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SYF. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Synchrony Financial by 337.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management raised its position in Synchrony Financial by 36.3% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Synchrony Financial in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 355.9% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.