Bank of Montreal Can Increases Stake in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,124 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,411 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $1,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,679,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $384,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,190 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Voya Financial in the second quarter worth about $34,378,000. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in Voya Financial in the first quarter worth about $30,022,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 5.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,512,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $373,505,000 after buying an additional 280,316 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 250.0% in the first quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 354,351 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,206,000 after buying an additional 253,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Voya Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Voya Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.50.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VOYA opened at $71.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.33. Voya Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.43 and a fifty-two week high of $83.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Voya Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be given a $0.47 dividend. This is an increase from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.93%.

Voya Financial Company Profile

Voya Financial, Inc engages in the provision of workplace benefits and savings products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Wealth Solutions, Health Solutions, and Investment Management. The Wealth Solutions segment offers full-service retirement products; recordkeeping services; stable value and fixed general account investment products; non-qualified plan administration services; and tools, guidance, and services to promote the financial well-being and retirement security of employees.