Voya Financial Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:VOYA)

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 21,179 call options on the company. This is an increase of 3,465% compared to the typical volume of 594 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Voya Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VOYA. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $136,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in Voya Financial by 4.6% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,731 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Voya Financial by 141.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 303,681 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,692,000 after acquiring an additional 178,070 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Voya Financial in the third quarter valued at $710,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Voya Financial by 7.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. 96.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on VOYA shares. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price target on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell 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 $103.69.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VOYA traded up $2.86 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $96.28. The stock had a trading volume of 166,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,610. The company has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Voya Financial has a 1 year low of $64.50 and a 1 year high of $105.64.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.98 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 7.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 9.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 31.70%.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc is a U.S.-based financial services company that helps individuals, employers and institutions plan for retirement, manage investments and address employee benefit needs. Its businesses are organized primarily around Retirement, Employee Benefits and Investment Management.

Voya’s retirement business provides workplace retirement plans, including defined contribution and defined benefit solutions, as well as individual retirement products and advisory services. Its employee benefits operations offer products such as health, life, disability and supplemental insurance, along with benefits administration and related services for employers and their workers.

Through its investment management business, Voya provides institutional and individual investors with asset-management and advisory capabilities across a range of investment strategies.