Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $81.92.

A number of research firms recently commented on VOYA. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $71.00 price target (down previously from $79.00) on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $81.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yvette S. Butler sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.18, for a total transaction of $112,506.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,493.90. This represents a 82.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Voya Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $250,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 327,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,561,000 after buying an additional 11,336 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 420.8% during the fourth quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 64,398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,812,000 after buying an additional 52,032 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 48.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,872,000 after buying an additional 15,902 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,472,277 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $445,487,000 after buying an additional 876,399 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VOYA opened at $66.72 on Wednesday. Voya Financial has a fifty-two week low of $52.43 and a fifty-two week high of $84.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.99.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The asset manager reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.56. Voya Financial had a net margin of 8.29% and a return on equity of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Voya Financial will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.96%.

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.