California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Position in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,573 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,722 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $13,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Voya Financial in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Voya Financial in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in Voya Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 59.6% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 573 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Voya Financial Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of Voya Financial stock opened at $98.60 on Friday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.50 and a 1 year high of $103.85. The firm has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.43 and a 200 day moving average of $79.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.24. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Voya Financial

In other news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VOYA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Voya Financial from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. 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 report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.15.

Voya Financial Profile

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.