Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) saw strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 843,134 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the previous session’s volume of 1,104,739 shares.The stock last traded at $102.9580 and had previously closed at $102.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on VOYA shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Voya Financial from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price target on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.85.

Voya Financial Trading Up 0.6%

The firm has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.28.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.47). Voya Financial had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 7.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 8,471.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,703,820 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $878,487,000 after acquiring an additional 9,590,613 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $850,187,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Voya Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $520,280,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Voya Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,492,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $334,677,000 after acquiring an additional 230,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,673,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,947,000 after purchasing an additional 46,906 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.