Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 19,510 Shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,244 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 19,510 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.12% of Synovus Financial worth $8,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Synovus Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $220,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 6,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,421 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 6,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Synovus Financial by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 39,548 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 10,039 shares during the period. 83.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SNV shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of Synovus Financial in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Synovus Financial from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Synovus Financial from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Synovus Financial from $60.50 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Synovus Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.67.

Synovus Financial Price Performance

SNV stock opened at $47.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.96. Synovus Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $33.44 and a 52-week high of $59.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The bank reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.09. Synovus Financial had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $580.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $566.83 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Synovus Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Synovus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Synovus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.15%.

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.