Mount Lucas Management LP Sells 32,051 Shares of Synchrony Financial $SYF

Mount Lucas Management LP decreased its stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,051 shares during the period. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $743,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 2.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 236,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,545,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 6.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 95.9% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SYF. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. HSBC upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $73.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Synchrony Financial in a report on Friday, August 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SYF opened at $73.05 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.46 and its 200 day moving average is $68.61. The stock has a market cap of $26.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.51. Synchrony Financial has a 1-year low of $40.54 and a 1-year high of $77.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.79 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 15.84% and a return on equity of 22.96%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 5th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.10%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 15th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synchrony Financial news, Director Arthur W. Coviello, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.93, for a total value of $591,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 35,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,402.17. The trade was a 18.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Darrell Owens sold 2,989 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.02, for a total transaction of $221,245.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,096 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,425.92. This represents a 15.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,075 shares of company stock valued at $1,707,292 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.