New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $14.23 Million Stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 218,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $14,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 37.9% during the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,000 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Synchrony Financial by 3.7% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,447,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,830,000 after purchasing an additional 157,948 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,083,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $200,756,000 after purchasing an additional 481,750 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 1.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,199,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,714,000 after buying an additional 37,484 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,061,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,852,000 after buying an additional 158,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Synchrony Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.30.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

SYF opened at $61.35 on Monday. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $39.35 and a 1 year high of $70.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $23.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.27.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. 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 fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.71%.

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.