Synchrony Financial Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:SYF)

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Synchrony Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Synchrony Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 17.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Synchrony Financial to earn $6.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.5%.

Synchrony Financial Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:SYF traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $44.11. The company had a trading volume of 701,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,470,742. Synchrony Financial has a fifty-two week low of $26.59 and a fifty-two week high of $45.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $17.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.61.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 17.37%. The business had revenue of $5.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at $552,995.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total transaction of $264,584.78. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 148,158 shares of company stock valued at $6,106,106 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Synchrony Financial from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on Synchrony Financial from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.44.

Synchrony Financial Company 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.