OLD National Bancorp IN Purchases New Holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SYF. CWM LLC lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Synchrony Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Oak Thistle LLC lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 31,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $977,000 after buying an additional 10,732 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 73,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,234,000 after buying an additional 22,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Synchrony Financial by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 197,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,029,000 after buying an additional 14,613 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JMP Securities increased 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. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total value of $283,964.17. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,995.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Brian D. Doubles sold 134,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 660,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,246,164.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total transaction of $283,964.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at $552,995.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,158 shares of company stock worth $6,106,106 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:SYF opened at $44.66 on Friday. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $26.59 and a 1 year high of $45.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 6.41, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.61.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $5.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 16.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 14.35%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.