Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $86.7778.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays raised Voya Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $83.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Voya Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Voya Financial Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of VOYA opened at $74.56 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.89. Voya Financial has a twelve month low of $52.43 and a twelve month high of $79.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.04.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 13.96%. Voya Financial’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Voya Financial will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 29.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners grew its stake in Voya Financial by 70.4% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,373,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $239,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,321 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $97,876,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Voya Financial by 119.6% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,085,387 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $148,062,000 after buying an additional 1,135,935 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,516,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $487,463,000 after acquiring an additional 977,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Voya Financial by 135.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,084,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $81,139,000 after acquiring an additional 624,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% 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.