Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.19 EPS

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.19), Briefing.com reports. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 13.49%. The company had revenue of $5.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYF opened at $44.66 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.76. The stock has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 6.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.24. Synchrony Financial has a one year low of $26.59 and a one year high of $45.33.

Synchrony Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Synchrony Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SYF. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Wolfe Research raised Synchrony Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Synchrony Financial from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Synchrony Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.72.

Synchrony Financial announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 24th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Synchrony Financial

In other Synchrony Financial news, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total transaction of $283,964.17. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,995.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Synchrony Financial news, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total transaction of $283,964.17. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,995.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 6,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.82, for a total value of $264,584.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 152,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,534,503.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,158 shares of company stock worth $6,106,106. 0.65% of the stock is owned by 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.