American Century Companies Inc. Sells 239,195 Shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 19.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 972,570 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 239,195 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.69% of Synovus Financial worth $49,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keystone Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Synovus Financial in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Synovus Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Synovus Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Synovus Financial by 72.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,095 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. 83.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SNV shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Synovus Financial from $60.50 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Synovus Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Synovus Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of Synovus Financial in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Synovus Financial from $67.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Synovus Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.67.

Synovus Financial Price Performance

Shares of Synovus Financial stock opened at $48.34 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Synovus Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $33.44 and a 12 month high of $59.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.87 and a 200 day moving average of $51.07. The firm has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.36.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The bank reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $580.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $566.83 million. Synovus Financial had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 14.70%. Synovus Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synovus Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from Synovus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Synovus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.15%.

Synovus Financial Company Profile

Synovus Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Synovus Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It operates through four segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, and Financial Management Services. The company's commercial banking services include treasury and asset management, capital market, and institutional trust services, as well as commercial, financial, and real estate lending services.