Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Lowers Holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SYF. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 37.9% in the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,000 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 389.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,138,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,797,000 after purchasing an additional 906,172 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Synchrony Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,088,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,083,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $200,756,000 after purchasing an additional 481,750 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in Synchrony Financial by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,130,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,378,000 after purchasing an additional 469,772 shares in the last quarter. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on SYF. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $77.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.10.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SYF opened at $52.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.37 billion, a PE ratio of 6.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Synchrony Financial has a 12-month low of $39.67 and a 12-month high of $70.93.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.02. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 18.30%. Equities research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.71%.

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.