Lido Advisors LLC Sells 26,842 Shares of Synchrony Financial $SYF

Lido Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 80.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,842 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 8.7% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 940,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,743,000 after purchasing an additional 74,934 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 488,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,610,000 after buying an additional 51,274 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 26.4% during the 2nd quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 5,637 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Synchrony Financial in the second quarter worth $299,360,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC grew its position in Synchrony Financial by 19.4% in the second quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 15,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Synchrony Financial stock opened at $80.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Synchrony Financial has a 52-week low of $40.54 and a 52-week high of $80.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $73.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.46.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $3.82 billion during 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 for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 5th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 32,000 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.80, for a total value of $2,329,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 127,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,252,880. This trade represents a 20.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 12,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.02, for a total value of $894,605.72. Following the transaction, the insider owned 108,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,219.42. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 55,075 shares of company stock worth $4,036,892 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on SYF. Wall Street Zen lowered Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Synchrony Financial from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.41.

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.