Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

Synchrony Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Synchrony Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 17.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Synchrony Financial to earn $6.05 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 16.5%.

Synchrony Financial Price Performance

NYSE:SYF opened at $44.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.76. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.61. Synchrony Financial has a 52-week low of $26.59 and a 52-week high of $45.33.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.19). The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SYF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Synchrony Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Synchrony Financial from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their target price on Synchrony Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Synchrony Financial from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.72.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $283,964.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,995.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 152,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,534,503.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David P. Melito sold 7,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total value of $283,964.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,995.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,158 shares of company stock worth $6,106,106. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Synchrony Financial Company 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.