Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,431,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 43,513 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 2.52% of Voya Financial worth $181,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 70.4% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,373,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $239,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394,321 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Voya Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $97,876,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 119.6% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,085,387 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $148,062,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,935 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 977,870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in Voya Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,653,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NYSE:VOYA opened at $67.73 on Monday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.43 and a 52-week high of $79.99. The stock has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.77, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VOYA shares. Barclays raised shares of Voya Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Voya Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.89.

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.