Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 49,088 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lessened its position in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 47.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 49,088 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $2,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 66.6% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,374,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,892,000 after buying an additional 2,548,180 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 995.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,599,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,448,000 after buying an additional 5,088,262 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $182,739,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,588,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,032,000 after buying an additional 165,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.9% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,496,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $150,748,000 after buying an additional 97,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Synchrony Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.50.

Synchrony Financial Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE SYF traded up $0.52 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.29. 4,058,982 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,197,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market cap of $17.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.39. Synchrony Financial has a 12-month low of $27.30 and a 12-month high of $52.67.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 16.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Synchrony Financial announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bart Schaller sold 930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.84, for a total value of $47,281.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,510,987.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.