Investors Buy Large Volume of Synchrony Financial Call Options (NYSE:SYF)

Key Points

• Unusually high call-option activity: Investors purchased 8,058 Synchrony Financial call options, 436% above the typical daily volume of 1,502.
• Solid earnings and increased dividend: Synchrony reported quarterly EPS of $2.59, exceeding estimates by $0.45, and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.30 to $0.34, providing a 1.9% annualized yield.
• Analysts remain moderately bullish: Nine analysts rate the stock a Buy and six rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an $89 price target versus the reported share price of $70.77.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 8,058 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 436% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,502 call options.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 0.3%

Synchrony Financial stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $70.77. The company had a trading volume of 758,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,939,078. Synchrony Financial has a fifty-two week low of $63.08 and a fifty-two week high of $88.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.32. The firm's fifty day moving average is $76.89 and its 200-day moving average is $73.97.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.45. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 23.09%. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.250-9.500 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Synchrony Financial's payout ratio is currently 13.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SYF. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Synchrony Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Synchrony Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,349,452,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $1,122,961,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,039,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $410,760,000 after purchasing an additional 365,353 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,338,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,098,000 after purchasing an additional 281,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,338,604 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $295,112,000 after purchasing an additional 37,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company's stock.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial NYSE: SYF is a consumer financial services company that provides credit products and related services through partnerships with retailers, manufacturers, healthcare providers and other businesses. The company is best known for private-label credit cards and dual-use credit cards that allow consumers to finance purchases with participating brands.

Synchrony's offerings also include promotional financing, installment loans and other consumer payment solutions. Its products support spending across areas such as retail, home improvement, consumer electronics, healthcare, automotive and lifestyle purchases.

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