Independent Advisor Alliance Sells 347 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Independent Advisor Alliance reduced its stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 347 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Synchrony Financial by 23.8% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 99,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,694,000 after buying an additional 19,098 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in Synchrony Financial in the first quarter worth about $2,192,000. National Pension Service raised 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 buying an additional 177,051 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 35.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 342,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 17.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 287,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,569,000 after purchasing an additional 42,293 shares in the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Curtis Howse sold 21,934 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 99,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,498,831.59. The trade was a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 34,163 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 owns 127,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,291,879.13. This represents a 21.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.43.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

SYF opened at $67.22 on Thursday. 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 has a 1-year low of $29.65 and a 1-year high of $67.76. The company has a market capitalization of $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.20.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. 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.