Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA) – What Are Analysts Thinking About This Stock?

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $103.69.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $109.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $850,187,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Voya Financial in the second quarter worth about $520,280,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Voya Financial in the second quarter worth about $319,539,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 10.2% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,699,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $184,436,000 after buying an additional 248,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $38,757,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE:VOYA traded down $2.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.79. 777,674 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 946,260. Voya Financial has a 12-month low of $64.50 and a 12-month high of $105.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.72.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 9.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.70%.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc is a U.S.-based financial services company that helps individuals, employers and institutions plan for retirement, manage investments and address employee benefit needs. Its businesses are organized primarily around Retirement, Employee Benefits and Investment Management.

Voya’s retirement business provides workplace retirement plans, including defined contribution and defined benefit solutions, as well as individual retirement products and advisory services. Its employee benefits operations offer products such as health, life, disability and supplemental insurance, along with benefits administration and related services for employers and their workers.

Through its investment management business, Voya provides institutional and individual investors with asset-management and advisory capabilities across a range of investment strategies.