B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys 900 Shares of Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Synchrony Financial were worth $453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Synchrony Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 34,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,329,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC now owns 42,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 320 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 brokerages have weighed in on SYF. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Synchrony Financial in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wolfe Research raised Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $36.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Synchrony Financial from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Synchrony Financial from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Synchrony Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.55.

Synchrony Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Synchrony Financial stock opened at $45.52 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.03. Synchrony Financial has a 1-year low of $27.30 and a 1-year high of $46.72. The company has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.60.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.37 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $5.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Synchrony Financial had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 16.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Synchrony Financial will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

Synchrony Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Synchrony Financial declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Curtis Howse sold 31,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $1,420,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 121,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,446,890. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.