Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th.

Synchrony Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% per year over the last three years. Synchrony Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 16.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Synchrony Financial to earn $6.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Synchrony Financial Stock Up 0.2 %

Synchrony Financial stock opened at $55.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.59. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.19 and a 200 day moving average of $47.65. Synchrony Financial has a one year low of $28.24 and a one year high of $57.37.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Synchrony Financial will post 6.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SYF. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Synchrony Financial from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 price target on shares of Synchrony Financial in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian J. Sr. Wenzel sold 74,698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.73, for a total transaction of $3,490,637.54. Following the sale, the insider now owns 76,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,563,209.23. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.