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

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.08.

Several research firms have recently commented on VOYA. UBS Group raised shares of Voya Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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, October 3rd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $83.00 price target (down from $91.00) on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $94.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $91.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Voya Financial

In related news, insider Tony D. Oh sold 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.95, for a total transaction of $58,594.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Voya Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VOYA. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Voya Financial by 25.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,884,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $228,474,000 after purchasing an additional 592,523 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Voya Financial by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,678,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $212,152,000 after acquiring an additional 38,438 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,055,263 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $146,234,000 after acquiring an additional 248,795 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Voya Financial by 29.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 651,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,376,000 after buying an additional 148,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Voya Financial by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 562,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,011,000 after purchasing an additional 37,760 shares during the period. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Voya Financial Stock Up 0.9 %

Voya Financial stock opened at $69.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.47. Voya Financial has a 1-year low of $63.11 and a 1-year high of $84.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.07. Voya Financial had a net margin of 8.81% and a return on equity of 15.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Voya Financial will post 8.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.66%.

About Voya Financial

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.