Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,517 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,310,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Voya Financial by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Voya Financial during the third quarter worth about $36,653,000. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Voya Financial by 1.7% during the third quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. Thrive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Voya Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Voya Financial by 12.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Voya Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.56.

Voya Financial Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Voya Financial stock opened at $74.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.46 and a 200-day moving average of $72.92. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.43 and a 52-week high of $78.00. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.90.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 13.89%. Voya Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.