Analysts Set Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) Target Price at $85.50

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.30.

A number of research firms have weighed in on VOYA. Barclays reduced their target price on Voya Financial from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Voya Financial from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Voya Financial from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Voya Financial in a research note on Monday, April 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

VOYA stock opened at $81.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.70. Voya Financial has a twelve month low of $57.74 and a twelve month high of $83.25. The firm has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.86.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.17). Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 7.99%.The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Voya Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 21.1% during the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 151,462 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,329,000 after buying an additional 26,346 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 3.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,662,301 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $199,140,000 after buying an additional 88,151 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 1.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,431,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $181,901,000 after buying an additional 43,513 shares during the period. Cadence Bank increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 59.9% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 49,299 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,688,000 after buying an additional 18,462 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 148.5% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 151,883 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,361,000 after buying an additional 90,764 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.