EP Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $237,000 in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 10.5% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 73.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 4,287 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 19,098 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Synchrony Financial by 134.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 34,163 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $2,220,253.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,291,879.13. The trade was a 21.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 21,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $1,209,221.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,498,831.59. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SYF. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price target on Synchrony Financial in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Synchrony Financial from $62.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Synchrony Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $64.00 to $72.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.53.

Synchrony Financial Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SYF opened at $68.06 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a 1-year low of $35.29 and a 1-year high of $69.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.18. The company has a market cap of $26.50 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 13.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend 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.