Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Stake in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,273 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,514 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $3,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VOYA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Voya Financial during the first quarter valued at $448,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 2.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 209,857 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,337,000 after buying an additional 5,103 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 4,892.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 63,058 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,308,000 after buying an additional 61,795 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 26.7% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 19,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Voya Financial from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.69.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VOYA opened at $99.76 on Monday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.50 and a 52-week high of $103.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.91.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.24. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 28.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Company Profile

Voya Financial, Inc (NYSE: VOYA) is a financial services company headquartered in New York City, focused on helping Americans plan, invest and protect their savings. The company traces its roots to the U.S. operations of ING Group, which were spun off in 2013 and rebranded as Voya Financial in 2014. Voya’s operations are built around a customer-centric approach, drawing on decades of experience in retirement planning and risk management to serve both individual and institutional clients.

Voya’s core business activities span three key segments: Retirement, Investment Management and Employee Benefits.