Nordea Investment Management AB Grows Stock Holdings in Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV)

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE:SNV) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 276,863 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,109 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Synovus Financial were worth $14,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Synovus Financial by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,674,226 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,213,000 after buying an additional 1,095,557 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Synovus Financial by 181.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,302,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,343,000 after acquiring an additional 838,932 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Synovus Financial by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,626,424 shares of the bank’s stock worth $517,027,000 after acquiring an additional 598,644 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Synovus Financial by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,762,983 shares of the bank’s stock worth $231,597,000 after purchasing an additional 491,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Synovus Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $19,434,000. 83.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SNV shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Synovus Financial from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Synovus Financial from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Synovus Financial from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Synovus Financial from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Synovus Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Synovus Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.86.

Synovus Financial Price Performance

Shares of Synovus Financial stock opened at $52.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Synovus Financial Corp. has a one year low of $33.44 and a one year high of $59.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39.

Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $564.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.64 million. Synovus Financial had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Synovus Financial Corp. will post 4.37 EPS for the current year.

Synovus Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 19th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Synovus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.78%.

Synovus Financial Profile

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.