Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 653 Shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 550,859 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.38% of Synovus Financial worth $20,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Synovus Financial by 333.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Synovus Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in Synovus Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Synovus Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Synovus Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SNV. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Synovus Financial from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Synovus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Synovus Financial from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Synovus Financial from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Synovus Financial from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.38.

Synovus Financial Price Performance

Synovus Financial stock opened at $36.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.03. Synovus Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $24.40 and a 1 year high of $40.92.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $537.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.62 million. Synovus Financial had a net margin of 13.29% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business’s revenue was down 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Synovus Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Synovus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.05%.

About Synovus Financial

Synovus Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Synovus Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It operates through four segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, and Financial Management Services. The company's commercial banking services include treasury and asset management, capital market, and institutional trust services, as well as commercial, financial, and real estate lending services.