Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New $2.59 Million Investment in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

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

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VOYA. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 75.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 59.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 573 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Voya Financial by 44.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 6,946 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Voya Financial

In related news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,830. This trade represents a 58.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE VOYA opened at $104.10 on Friday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.50 and a 1 year high of $105.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $98.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.61. The firm has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.98 by ($0.47). Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VOYA. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 price objective on Voya Financial in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Voya Financial from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.85.

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.