Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Stock Price

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $89.00 to $100.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $89.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Voya Financial from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.27.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

NYSE VOYA opened at $96.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.61 and a 200-day moving average of $77.72. Voya Financial has a fifty-two week low of $64.50 and a fifty-two week high of $98.72.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.24. Voya Financial had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 9.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 28.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of Voya Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,830. The trade was a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Voya Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP boosted 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC now owns 32,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,423,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 59.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 573 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Voya Financial by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Voya Financial by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

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.