Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Stock Position Boosted by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 5.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 99,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,694,000 after acquiring an additional 19,098 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Synchrony Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,192,000. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 957,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,773,000 after acquiring an additional 177,051 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,300,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,082,000 after acquiring an additional 342,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 287,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,569,000 after acquiring an additional 42,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Curtis Howse sold 21,934 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $1,209,221.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,498,831.59. This trade represents a 18.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Synchrony Financial Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Synchrony Financial stock opened at $64.98 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.11. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.48, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $28.84 and a 1 year high of $67.76.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Synchrony Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.05%.

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.