Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $105.68 and last traded at $103.3020, with a volume of 22,484 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VOYA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Voya Financial from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.69.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $98.71 and its 200 day moving average is $86.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.07, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.85.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The asset manager reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 12.67% and a net margin of 7.75%. Voya Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.45 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 24th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 24th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Voya Financial news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 2,093 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.81, for a total value of $200,530.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Voya Financial in the second quarter valued at about $850,187,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Voya Financial during the second quarter worth about $520,280,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Voya Financial during the second quarter worth about $319,539,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Voya Financial by 10.2% during 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, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 280.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 526,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,995,000 after buying an additional 388,520 shares during the period. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Voya Financial Company Profile

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.