Synchrony Financial Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:SYF)

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 39,401 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,067% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,377 call options.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

SYF stock traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.50. The company had a trading volume of 955,727 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,913,081. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.59. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $28.84 and a 1 year high of $57.37.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.81 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.48 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Brian J. Sr. Wenzel sold 74,698 shares of Synchrony Financial 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 76,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,563,209.23. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Synchrony Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,686,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $315,381,000 after buying an additional 313,128 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,374,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,892,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548,180 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Synchrony Financial by 14.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,726,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,917,000 after buying an additional 727,649 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 97,235 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Synchrony Financial by 18.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,131,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,599,000 after buying an additional 492,312 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.48% 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.