SYF
Synchrony FinancialEvidence as of 2026-09-03Overview · Synchrony Financial
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 cards, co-brand and general purpose credit cards, short- and long-term installment loans, and consumer banking products; and de…
Management team
- Ms. Carol D. Juel · Executive VP and Chief Technology & Operating OfficerFind on LinkedIn
- Mr. Brian J. Wenzel Sr. · Executive VP & CFOFind on LinkedIn
- Mr. Michael Bopp · Executive VP & Chief Growth OfficerFind on LinkedIn
- Mr. Jonathan S. Mothner Esq. · Executive VP & Chief Risk and Legal OfficerFind on LinkedIn
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Links open LinkedIn searches, not verified profiles. Team data from our market-data vendor's company profile.
Moneyta sentiment
Where the published evidence leans after the desk debated it — not a rating or a recommendation.
+0.2 on a −2 to +2 scale.
What builds the score
Solid bars are analyst rubric scores; faded bars are computed directly from data. Claims dropped in debate count for nothing; weakened claims count at half weight.
Editor's note
Written after the debate settled — the rest of the page is the evidence behind it.
Evidence balance is Mixed (+ 0.2 of a possible + 2; confidence high). The surviving filings and data establish that shares outstanding fell across filings from 380,650,709 as of Q1 2025 (fiscal quarter ended 2025-04-18) to 347,596,279 as of FY 2025 (fiscal quarter ended 2026-01-30) and then to 325,370,840 as of Q2 2026 (fiscal quarter ended 2026-07-17). Reported quarter net income and EPS show serial positive results: net income ranged from $ 757,000,000 in Q1 2025 to $ 1,077,000,000 in Q3 2025 and $ 885,000,000 in Q2 2026, with diluted EPS of $ 1.89, $ 2.86 and $ 2.59 in those representative quarters.
On the balance sheet, cash was $ 21,629,000,000 as of 2025-03-31 and $ 16,193,000,000 as of 2026-06-30, while long-term debt rose from $ 15,182,000,000 at 2025-12-31 to $ 16,432,000,000 at 2026-06-30, implying net debt close to $ 239,000,000 as of 2026-06-30. Market and valuation signals in the packet are mixed: price-based momentum and a recent golden cross are recorded on 2026-09-02, 30‑day vol is elevated (about 29.0%) and trailing P/E is 7.67 based on price $ 78.39 and EPS TTM $ 10.22.
How this note was made
every stage ran before the note was writtenAnalyst desk
Mercer, Oakes, Nash, Ellis, Yates, Talbot and Archer. The desk: named AI agents, not people. Each reads one slice of the evidence and nothing else — no outside knowledge, no browsing — so every finding traces to a source you can open.
Reads the XBRL figures companies file with the SEC — revenue, margins, income, debt and share count, quarter by quarter — and reports which way the trend is running.
EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding was 380,650,709 as of 2025-04-18 (reported in the 10-Q).
XBRL companyfacts · 0001601712-25-000144EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding was 347,596,279 as of 2026-01-30 (reported in the 10-K).
XBRL companyfacts · 0001601712-26-000006Reads the filings themselves, above all the year-over-year diff of Item 1A risk factors: which risks a company added, dropped or quietly reworded since its last annual report.
Which filings the desk reads
The desk reads the annual 10-K in full — its risk factors, and how they changed since last year. Quarterly 10-Qs and event filings (8-Ks, insider Form 4s) are listed for context but not read line by line: the 10-K is where the material risk disclosures live. A brand-new company, or one we have only just begun tracking, may have no annual report on file yet — its risk analysis fills in once that lands.
A Form 4 was filed reporting an insider transaction on 19 August 2026 (filed_date 2026-08-19).
4 filed 2026-08-19A Form 4 was filed reporting an insider transaction on 19 August 2026 (filed_date 2026-08-19).
4 filed 2026-08-19Reads the signal panel above — momentum, volatility, drawdown, relative strength and beta — and ranks each against the whole research universe rather than judging it in isolation.
Momentum measures are positive as of 2026-09-02: 3-month momentum +14.6%, 6-month momentum +14.1%, and 12-1 momentum +19.0%, with the 6-month momentum at the 69th percentile of a 547-stock research universe.
Moneyta signal set · 2026-09-02weakened in debateTechnical trend signals show a bullish alignment on 2026-09-02: the 50-day simple moving average is +2.4% above price, the 200-day simple moving average is +5.3% above price, and a golden cross is recorded with the cross age at 19 days.
Moneyta signal set · 2026-09-02Reads which funds hold the name and at what weight, plus insider Form 4 filings, to show the exposure you may already carry through index funds.
As of 2026-09-02T13:45:47.228469+00:00, the security has a 0.04% weight in the IVV ETF.
ETF constituents · market dataThere are sixteen Form 4 filings for this issuer with filed_date 2026-08-19 in the provided evidence, indicating a cluster of insider filing events on that date.
Form 4 × 15 (90d window not enforced here)Reads recent headlines that are genuinely about this company, ignoring rating chatter and market-wide stories. Findings argue in the debate but never move the sentiment score.
Multiple recent articles report institutional ownership changes in Synchrony Financial during the second quarter, with specific new stakes and reductions disclosed in 13F/Form filings reported in late August–early September 2026.
News · thelincolnianonline.com · 2026-09-01An article summarizes that nineteen analysts covering Synchrony Financial have an average MarketBeat rating described as “Moderate Buy,” with twelve analysts assigning buy-type ratings and seven assigning hold-type ratings, per the item published 31 August 2026.
News · thelincolnianonline.com · 2026-08-31Reads parsed Forms 3/4/5 — who bought or sold, at what size, and whether a 10b5-1 plan was involved. Flags clustered open-market officer buying; treats plan sales as routine and never counts a fund or 10%-holder as an officer.
Brian D. Doubles reported an acquisition of 1,001 shares valued at "$81k" on 17 August 2026; the filing does not indicate a trading plan.
Form 4 · DOUBLES BRIAN D (See remarks) · $81k code A · 2026-08-17Jonathan S. Mothner reported an acquisition of 218 shares valued at "$18k" on 17 August 2026; the filing does not indicate a trading plan.
Form 4 · MOTHNER JONATHAN S (See remarks) · $18k code A · 2026-08-17Reads the implied-expectations math built from the company's own filings (the growth rate today's price would justify, and the multiples beside it) and argues whether the market's bar looks high or low for this business. Never turns the math into a target.
The trailing twelve-month price-to-earnings ratio is 7.67 (price 78.39 divided by EPS TTM 10.22).
Valuation inputs · SEC XBRL + stored EOD closeReported cash as of 2026-06-30 is $16,193,000,000 and reported long-term debt as of 2026-06-30 is $16,432,000,000, implying net debt of about $239,000,000 (debt minus cash).
Valuation inputs · SEC XBRL + stored EOD closeDebate and risk review
A bull and a bear contest the claims and the chair rules on each; the risk review stress-tests what survived.
A bull and a bear argue the analysts' claims across two rounds, then a chair rules on each one. Only what survives feeds the score — the argument is shown, not hidden, so you can judge the reasoning yourself.
The evidence jointly supports a favorable read because shares outstanding have declined meaningfully in 2026 (fundamentals-1, fundamentals-2), which amplifies reported EPS and aligns with the sequence of solid quarterly EPS and net income figures across 2025–2026 (fundamentals-3 through fundamentals-9). Insider purchases in August 2026 (insider-0 through insider-3) and several institutional 13F changes reported in news items (news-0 through news-4) provide corroborating signals of insider and institutional engagement. Market technicals and momentum are positive (market-0, market-1) while the stock’s trailing P/E is relatively low at 7.67 and net debt is small on the reported balance-sheet basis (valuation-0, valuation-1), which together indicate valuation support versus the reported earnings stream. Financial advisors often suggest that buyback-driven share reduction, consistent profitability, insider activity, and constructive momentum are jointly material — here those elements are present and together form a coherent bull case despite gaps in the non-GAAP cash-flow data.
Chair's verdict, claim by claim
Fragility · computed, not argued
balanced0.33
41 surviving claims rest on 23 distinct sources; the heaviest analyst carries 34% of them, and 98% of what the desk raised survived the debate.
The surviving read is moderately concentrated: 41 claims draw on 23 sources, with one analyst responsible for about a third of the claims and almost all desk challenges (98%) left standing. That pattern means the set is relatively stable but partly dependent on a small number of contributors and the underlying documents — treat the bundle as informative but not broadly diversified in interpretive viewpoint.
Peer context · computed, not argued
12-1 momentum ranks 2nd of 7 in Credit Services (as of 2026-09-02).
6-month relative strength ranks 3rd of 7 in Credit Services (as of 2026-09-02).
90-day volatility ranks 3rd of 7 in Credit Services (as of 2026-09-02).
Disconfirming evidence · base rates · falsifiers
Context
Outside consensus, and where this name already sits in your own portfolio.
Third-party consensus shown for context. It never enters Moneyta sentiment — when the two diverge, the debate above is where the why lives.
What this was built from
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. The desk reads only what is listed here — no outside knowledge, no browsing — and each card shows who read it and what it contributed to the score.
13 filings· 2 cited
SEC XBRL filings
Quarterly figures as filed with the SEC, read straight from EDGAR's structured data — not retyped or estimated.
Read by Mercer−0.1 to the score
10 documents· 2 cited
SEC filing documents
The filings themselves, including the year-over-year comparison of Item 1A risk factors.
Read by Oakes+0.0 to the score
1 signal set
Moneyta signal set
Computed from our own end-of-day price history and ranked against the whole research universe. No AI involved.
Read by Nash−0.1 to the score
2 holdings records
Fund holdings
Which funds hold this name and at what weight, plus insider Form 4 filings.
Read by Ellis+0.0 to the score
8 headlines· 2 cited
News coverage
Recent headlines about this company, rating chatter excluded and nothing published after the report date.
Read by Yatesnothing survived
20 filings· 2 cited
Insider filings
Parsed Forms 3/4/5 from EDGAR: named insiders, share counts, prices, and 10b5-1 plan state — stated and inferred flags kept apart.
Read by Talbot+1.0 to the score
1 computation
Valuation inputs
TTM cash-flow figures from the company's own XBRL filings, priced with the stored closing price. Implied growth and multiples only; no fair-value dollar figure reaches the desk, by design.
Read by Archercontext only
1 record· 0 cited
Company profile
Sector, industry and company details.
1 record· 0 cited
Analyst consensus
Third-party consensus, shown for context only — it never enters Moneyta sentiment.
Read means we pulled and handed it to an analyst; cited means a claim on this page points at it. Reading twelve quarters to state one trend is normal — the gap is shown rather than hidden.
Written by AI, checked against sources
The analysts, the bull–bear debate and the editor's note are AI agents reading only the evidence listed on this page. They can misread a filing or a headline, which is why every claim cites a source you can open and check yourself. The sentiment score is arithmetic over the claims that survived the debate, not a language model's opinion.
Educational analysis of published data. Moneyta does not give investment advice or make recommendations. Past patterns do not indicate future results.
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The full terminal on SYF Gold
Who holds it, who's buying, what the Street thinks: live behind the lock, updated as filings land.
Institutional holders
Net institutional flow, Q/Q
Largest holder position
Insider buys, 90 days
Clustered insider value
Street target range
The real figures are for members. Educational analysis, not advice.
Educational analysis of published data. Moneyta does not give investment advice or make recommendations.