Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Sells 4,297 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co trimmed its stake in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 53,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,297 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $3,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SYF. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 9,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC boosted its position in Synchrony Financial by 4.0% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 7,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 15,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SYF shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $62.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Synchrony Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Synchrony Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.30.

Synchrony Financial Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Synchrony Financial stock opened at $60.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.40 and its 200 day moving average is $59.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a PE ratio of 7.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.63. Synchrony Financial has a 1 year low of $39.67 and a 1 year high of $70.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its 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 return on equity of 18.30% and a net margin of 15.36%. Equities research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Synchrony Financial’s payout ratio is 11.71%.

Synchrony Financial 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.