Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Raises Stock Holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 3.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $2,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Voya Financial by 225.6% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Voya Financial by 149.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 481 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in Voya Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Voya Financial by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Voya Financial by 205.7% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,651 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VOYA shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Voya Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.50.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of VOYA opened at $69.75 on Wednesday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.43 and a 12 month high of $83.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.70. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.99.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.55% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be given a $0.47 dividend. This is a positive change from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is currently 30.93%.

About Voya Financial

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.