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

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.30.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VOYA shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Voya Financial from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 977,870 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 23.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,679,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $384,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,190 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 5.4% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,512,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,505,000 after acquiring an additional 280,316 shares in the last quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 1.9% in the third quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC now owns 4,072,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $304,593,000 after purchasing an additional 77,418 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 1.7% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,661,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $259,949,000 after purchasing an additional 62,093 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

NYSE VOYA opened at $70.81 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.90. Voya Financial has a fifty-two week low of $52.43 and a fifty-two week high of $83.58. The company has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, 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, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 7.55%.Voya Financial’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This is an increase from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 26th. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 30.93%.

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.