Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) Shares Down 6.1% – Time to Sell?

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF)’s stock price dropped 6.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $73.22 and last traded at $72.7490. Approximately 1,848,926 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 4,418,460 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.51.

Key Synchrony Financial News

Here are the key news stories impacting Synchrony Financial this week:

• Positive Sentiment: EPS beat and efficiency gains — Synchrony reported Q4 EPS above estimates and management cited improved efficiency and lower credit loss provisions, supporting profitability. Synchrony Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates on Improved Efficiency
• Positive Sentiment: Record purchase volume and BNPL pickup — Purchase volume hit a company record ($49B for Q4), with management saying buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) lifted sales without hurting card performance, signaling durable consumer spending and product mix strength. Synchrony Says BNPL Lifts Sales Without Hurting Cards
• Positive Sentiment: Credit metrics disclosed — Synchrony released December charge-off and delinquency metrics showing manageable credit performance, which reduces downside risk to reserves and earnings. Synchrony Financial Releases December 2025 Credit Performance Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: FY2026 EPS guidance provided — Management set FY2026 EPS guidance of $9.10–$9.50 (consensus ? $9.34). The range centers near Street expectations but the low end is modestly conservative, leaving mixed signals for investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend announced — Synchrony declared a quarterly common dividend of $0.30/share, returning cash to shareholders but not changing near-term growth outlook. Synchrony Reports Fourth Quarter 2025 Results; Company also Announces Quarterly Common Stock Dividend of $0.30 Per Share
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue shortfall and slight top-line weakness — Revenue for the quarter missed analyst estimates ($3.79B vs. ~$3.84B) and was down year-over-year, which likely drove concern that EPS beat was partly efficiency-driven rather than growth-driven. Synchrony Financial Q4 earnings and materials
• Negative Sentiment: Shares underperformed peers into the print — Market commentary highlights SYF underperforming competitors; combined with the revenue miss and conservative guidance nuance, that contributed to the stock decline. Synchrony Financial stock underperforms Monday when compared to competitors despite daily gains

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SYF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Synchrony Financial from $78.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. HSBC upgraded Synchrony Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Synchrony Financial from $86.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Synchrony Financial from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.47.

Synchrony Financial Stock Down 6.3%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.94, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.43.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.02. Synchrony Financial had a return on equity of 22.96% and a net margin of 15.84%.The company had revenue of $3.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.91 earnings per share. Synchrony Financial’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Synchrony Financial has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.100-9.500 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Synchrony Financial will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Synchrony Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Synchrony Financial news, Director Arthur W. Coviello, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.93, for a total transaction of $591,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 35,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,402.17. This trade represents a 18.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Curtis Howse sold 12,086 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.02, for a total transaction of $894,605.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 108,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,219.42. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,075 shares of company stock worth $4,036,892. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new stake in Synchrony Financial during the third quarter worth about $2,064,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Synchrony Financial by 56.5% during the 2nd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 370,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,719,000 after purchasing an additional 133,780 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Synchrony Financial by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,542,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $318,236,000 after purchasing an additional 333,093 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Synchrony Financial by 73.8% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 77,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,486,000 after buying an additional 32,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Synchrony Financial by 6.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,266,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,737,000 after buying an additional 245,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.48% of the company’s stock.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is a consumer financial services company that specializes in providing point-of-sale financing and private-label, co-branded and branded credit card programs. The company serves as a payments and lending partner to retailers, digital merchants and service providers, offering consumer financing solutions designed to drive customer engagement and sales. Synchrony also operates a direct bank that offers deposit products, including savings accounts and certificates of deposit, which support its funding and customer-facing product suite.

Its core product set includes private-label and co-branded credit cards, general-purpose credit cards, installment loan programs and promotional financing options that are integrated into merchants’ checkout experiences.