West Paces Advisors Inc. Has $39,000 Stock Holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

West Paces Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 38.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,141,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,174,000 after purchasing an additional 10,880 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,656,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 105.5% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 180,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,736,000 after purchasing an additional 92,705 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $468,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,183,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,922 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $65.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $59.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.95.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

SYF stock opened at $52.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Synchrony Financial has a 52-week low of $40.55 and a 52-week high of $70.93. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.22.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.26. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 18.30% and a net margin of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. Research analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is presently 16.46%.

Synchrony Financial 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.