Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Upgraded at TD Cowen

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) was upgraded by research analysts at TD Cowen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on VOYA. Wall Street Zen lowered Voya Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.50.

Voya Financial Price Performance

VOYA opened at $75.55 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $69.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.46. Voya Financial has a 12-month low of $54.48 and a 12-month high of $79.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.86.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.17). Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 7.99%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Voya Financial’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Voya Financial will post 9.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Voya Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $1,865,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,384 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 289,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $19,779,000 after purchasing an additional 41,014 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 1,038.3% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,769,000 after purchasing an additional 103,728 shares during the period. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Voya Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $291,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.