Phocas Financial Corp. Reduces Stake in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Phocas Financial Corp. lowered its position in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 71.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,903 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 66,292 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial comprises about 1.0% of Phocas Financial Corp.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Synovus Financial were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Synovus Financial by 12.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,674,226 shares of the bank’s stock worth $430,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,557 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Synovus Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,626,424 shares of the bank’s stock worth $517,027,000 after purchasing an additional 598,644 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Synovus Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,350,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Synovus Financial by 934.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 246,686 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,638,000 after purchasing an additional 222,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Synovus Financial by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,561,056 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $294,255,000 after buying an additional 201,362 shares during the period. 83.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SNV has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Synovus Financial from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Synovus Financial from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Synovus Financial from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Synovus Financial from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Synovus Financial from $60.50 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.44.

Synovus Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE SNV opened at $51.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.60 and a 200 day moving average of $50.60. Synovus Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $33.44 and a 12-month high of $59.92. The stock has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $580.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $566.83 million. Synovus Financial had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synovus Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 19th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 19th. Synovus Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.84%.

Synovus Financial Profile

Synovus Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Synovus Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It operates through four segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, and Financial Management Services. The company's commercial banking services include treasury and asset management, capital market, and institutional trust services, as well as commercial, financial, and real estate lending services.