Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 161,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,600 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $11,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,095,190 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position 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 worth $393,270,000 after buying an additional 407,426 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Voya Financial by 5.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 62,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in Voya Financial by 70.4% during 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 during the period. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Voya Financial stock opened at $70.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.88. Voya Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.43 and a fifty-two week high of $83.58. The firm has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.99.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 7.55%.The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 26th. This is a boost from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Voya Financial from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.30.

Voya Financial Company Profile

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.