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

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.5556.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded Voya Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Voya Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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 research note on Tuesday, November 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Voya Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 75.5% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 225.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Voya Financial during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Voya Financial by 149.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 481 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Voya Financial stock opened at $75.87 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.06, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.89. Voya Financial has a 12 month low of $52.43 and a 12 month high of $79.99.

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 business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 13.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.89%.

About Voya Financial

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.