Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 21st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd.

Synchrony Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years. Synchrony Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 11.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Synchrony Financial to earn $7.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.7%.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 0.8 %

Synchrony Financial stock opened at $68.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.43. Synchrony Financial has a fifty-two week low of $37.91 and a fifty-two week high of $70.93. The company has a market capitalization of $26.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.64.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts expect that Synchrony Financial will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan S. Mothner sold 34,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $2,220,253.37. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 127,587 shares in the company, valued at $8,291,879.13. The trade was a 21.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on SYF shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Compass Point downgraded shares of Synchrony Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised Synchrony Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Synchrony Financial from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Synchrony Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.30.

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.