Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 233,162 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lowered its holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,183,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 233,162 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.29% of Synchrony Financial worth $45,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 16,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,160,000 after buying an additional 7,753 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 69,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 101,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,520,000 after buying an additional 2,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in Synchrony Financial by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 962,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SYF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.44.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

SYF opened at $41.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.35. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $26.59 and a 1 year high of $43.83. The stock has a market cap of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.61.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 17.37%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Brian D. Doubles sold 134,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.26, for a total transaction of $5,557,556.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 660,353 shares in the company, valued at $27,246,164.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian D. Doubles sold 134,696 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.26, for a total value of $5,557,556.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 660,353 shares in the company, valued at $27,246,164.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $264,584.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 152,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,534,503.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,158 shares of company stock worth $6,106,106. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

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.