Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $90.54 and last traded at $89.2550, with a volume of 804780 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $88.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on VOYA. Raymond James Financial upgraded Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Voya Financial from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Voya Financial from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings raised Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Voya Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.73.

Voya Financial Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.70.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.00 EPS. Research analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is presently 28.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Voya Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Voya Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,492,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $334,677,000 after buying an additional 230,877 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,673,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,947,000 after purchasing an additional 46,906 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,557,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $265,363,000 after purchasing an additional 61,962 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,418,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $242,716,000 after purchasing an additional 219,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,706,354 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $201,596,000 after purchasing an additional 44,053 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.