Strategic Investment Advisors MI Grows Stock Holdings in Synchrony Financial $SYF

Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 19.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 75,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,133 shares during the quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $5,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Synchrony Financial by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,080,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,698,000 after purchasing an additional 191,920 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,595,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $907,356,000 after buying an additional 3,494,741 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,230,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,778,000 after buying an additional 442,226 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,039,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $410,760,000 after acquiring an additional 365,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,490,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $458,108,000 after acquiring an additional 517,781 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SYF. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.89.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Synchrony Financial stock opened at $74.99 on Thursday. Synchrony Financial has a 52 week low of $63.08 and a 52 week high of $88.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $24.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.60 and a 200-day moving average of $72.71.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.45. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 23.09% and a net margin of 15.44%.The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.50 earnings per share. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.250-9.500 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 9.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 5th. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is presently 13.93%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 21st that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 51,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $3,651,107.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 132,664 shares in the company, valued at $9,449,656.72. The trade was a 27.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Synchrony Financial Company Profile

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is a consumer financial services company that specializes in providing point-of-sale financing and private-label, co-branded and branded credit card programs. The company serves as a payments and lending partner to retailers, digital merchants and service providers, offering consumer financing solutions designed to drive customer engagement and sales. Synchrony also operates a direct bank that offers deposit products, including savings accounts and certificates of deposit, which support its funding and customer-facing product suite.

Its core product set includes private-label and co-branded credit cards, general-purpose credit cards, installment loan programs and promotional financing options that are integrated into merchants’ checkout experiences.