Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) Short Interest Up 19.6% in March

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,993,751 shares, a growth of 19.6% from the March 15th total of 2,503,207 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 943,035 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

VOYA traded up $1.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.44. 1,451,499 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 963,873. Voya Financial has a 52 week low of $54.48 and a 52 week high of $79.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.97 and a 200 day moving average of $72.48. The stock has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.86.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 13.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Voya Financial will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 29.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on VOYA. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.89.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Verdad Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Voya Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $148,980,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Voya Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,106,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Voya Financial by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,516,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $487,463,000 after acquiring an additional 977,870 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Voya Financial by 135.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,084,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $81,139,000 after acquiring an additional 624,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Voya Financial by 63.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,431,835 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $107,101,000 after acquiring an additional 553,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

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.