Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Position in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,662,301 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,151 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 2.76% of Voya Financial worth $199,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VOYA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,539,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $393,270,000 after buying an additional 407,426 shares during the period. Kelly Financial Group LLC grew its position in Voya Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kelly Financial Group LLC now owns 4,072,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $304,593,000 after acquiring an additional 77,418 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Voya Financial by 1.7% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,661,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $259,949,000 after purchasing an additional 62,093 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 6.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,418,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $242,716,000 after purchasing an additional 219,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 70.4% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,373,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $239,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394,321 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of VOYA opened at $74.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.64. Voya Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.43 and a twelve month 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 0.42.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. This is an increase from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VOYA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.33.

Voya Financial 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.