Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $2.49 Million Stock Holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its position in shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Free Report) by 68.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,837 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 20,205 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $2,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Synchrony Financial by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,686,486 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $315,381,000 after purchasing an additional 313,128 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Synchrony Financial by 14.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,726,704 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $264,917,000 after acquiring an additional 727,649 shares during the period. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 37.9% in the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,600,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $229,448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,000 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Synchrony Financial by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 4,447,275 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $221,830,000 after purchasing an additional 157,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,131,599 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $147,599,000 after purchasing an additional 492,312 shares during the period. 96.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SYF. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $62.00 target price on Synchrony Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $60.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Synchrony Financial from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Synchrony Financial in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.53.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE SYF traded down $1.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $66.90. 3,756,266 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,939,589. Synchrony Financial has a twelve month low of $35.12 and a twelve month high of $69.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.55.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76 billion. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 13.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Synchrony Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.