VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in Synchrony Financial $SYF

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 299,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,798,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Synchrony Financial by 959.4% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 545,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,131,000 after buying an additional 494,354 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Synchrony Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,734,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 701.9% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 120,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,095,000 after acquiring an additional 105,907 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 228,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,097,000 after acquiring an additional 16,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 130,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,870,000 after acquiring an additional 26,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SYF. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Synchrony Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.78.

Synchrony Financial Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:SYF opened at $79.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.32. Synchrony Financial has a twelve month low of $63.08 and a twelve month high of $88.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $76.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 23.09% and a net margin of 15.44%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.250-9.500 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from Synchrony Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 5th. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.93%.

Synchrony Financial Company Profile

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is a consumer financial services company that specializes in providing point-of-sale financing and private-label, co-branded and branded credit card programs. The company serves as a payments and lending partner to retailers, digital merchants and service providers, offering consumer financing solutions designed to drive customer engagement and sales. Synchrony also operates a direct bank that offers deposit products, including savings accounts and certificates of deposit, which support its funding and customer-facing product suite.

Its core product set includes private-label and co-branded credit cards, general-purpose credit cards, installment loan programs and promotional financing options that are integrated into merchants’ checkout experiences.