California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 20,497 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 584,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,497 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Synchrony Financial worth $25,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 995.4% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,599,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,448,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088,262 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $182,739,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 362.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,981,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,946 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,826,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,112,000 after purchasing an additional 730,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 33.5% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,685,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,266,000 after purchasing an additional 674,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SYF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SYF traded down $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $50.20. The stock had a trading volume of 128,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,142,488. Synchrony Financial has a one year low of $27.30 and a one year high of $52.67. The company has a market capitalization of $19.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.14.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 16.06%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.35%.

Synchrony Financial announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.