Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

by · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Barclays upgraded shares of Voya Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

View Our Latest Research Report on VOYA

Voya Financial Price Performance

VOYA stock opened at $78.17 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $73.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.48. Voya Financial has a 12-month low of $52.43 and a 12-month high of $79.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.90.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 7.55%.Voya Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Voya Financial will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Voya Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Voya Financial by 75.5% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Voya Financial by 225.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Voya Financial by 149.2% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 481 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in Voya Financial by 5,180.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Articles