Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 1,942,573 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Free Report) by 340.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,512,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,942,573 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.65% of Synchrony Financial worth $163,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 102.6% in the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 10,021 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 5,074 shares in the last quarter. Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new position in Synchrony Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $400,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 114,374 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,434,000 after acquiring an additional 4,533 shares in the last quarter. Senator Investment Group LP purchased a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,700,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 132.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 41,529 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,699,000 after acquiring an additional 23,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SYF shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $76.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised shares of Synchrony Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $59.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $44.00 price target (down previously from $82.00) on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Synchrony Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.95.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SYF traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $54.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,236,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,944,351. Synchrony Financial has a 12 month low of $40.55 and a 12 month high of $70.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.22.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 18.30%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Synchrony Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.46%.

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.