Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes $2.59 Million Position in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 28,568 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,586,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Voya Financial in the second quarter valued at $850,187,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $520,280,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Voya Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $319,539,000. Verdad Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Voya Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $148,980,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $83,106,000. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Voya Financial

In other Voya Financial news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of Voya Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $359,460.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,887 shares in the company, valued at $259,830. The trade was a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Voya Financial Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE VOYA opened at $104.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $98.94 and a 200 day moving average of $84.61. The stock has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.90. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.50 and a 12-month high of $105.64.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.47). Voya Financial had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 7.45%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VOYA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.85.

Voya Financial 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.