Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $82.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $40.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 28.95% from the stock’s current price.

SYF has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research cut shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $62.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.63.

Synchrony Financial Trading Down 5.4 %

NYSE:SYF opened at $63.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Synchrony Financial has a 12-month low of $35.29 and a 12-month high of $69.39.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.17. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 13.98%. The company had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Synchrony Financial will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Synchrony Financial

In other news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 34,163 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $2,220,253.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 127,587 shares in the company, valued at $8,291,879.13. This represents a 21.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 21,934 shares of Synchrony Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $1,209,221.42. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 99,743 shares in the company, valued at $5,498,831.59. This represents a 18.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Synchrony Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Synchrony Financial by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 0.9% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 38,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Synchrony Financial during the second quarter worth $215,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Synchrony Financial during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Synchrony Financial in the second quarter valued at about $326,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

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.