The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 87,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,682 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.09% of Voya Financial worth $6,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Voya Financial by 29.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 651,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,376,000 after purchasing an additional 148,810 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $873,000. Prospector Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 115,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,227,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 7.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 562,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,011,000 after buying an additional 37,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on VOYA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Voya Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.82.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

NYSE VOYA opened at $79.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.03. Voya Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.02 and a fifty-two week high of $80.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $71.82 and a 200-day moving average of $71.94.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The asset manager reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.13. Voya Financial had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 16.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.57%.

Voya Financial Profile

Voya Financial, Inc engages in the provision of workplace benefits and savings products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Wealth Solutions, Health Solutions, and Investment Management. The Wealth Solutions segment offers full-service retirement products; recordkeeping services; stable value and fixed general account investment products; non-qualified plan administration services; and tools, guidance, and services to promote the financial well-being and retirement security of employees.