Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 23.8% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 99,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,694,000 after acquiring an additional 19,098 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,192,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 998,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,011,000 after purchasing an additional 30,366 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in Synchrony Financial by 22.7% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 957,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,773,000 after purchasing an additional 177,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 35.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,300,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,082,000 after buying an additional 342,979 shares during the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian J. Sr. Wenzel sold 74,698 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.73, for a total value of $3,490,637.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,251 shares in the company, valued at $3,563,209.23. The trade was a 49.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 21,934 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $1,209,221.42. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,498,831.59. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

Shares of SYF opened at $64.98 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a one year low of $28.84 and a one year high of $67.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $54.02 and its 200-day moving average is $49.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.59.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.17. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. Synchrony Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 13.05%.

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.