Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $109.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Voya Financial traded as high as $98.87 and last traded at $98.4430, with a volume of 1355618 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $97.56.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Voya Financial from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Voya Financial from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Voya Financial news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $259,830. This trade represents a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VOYA. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Voya Financial by 75.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC now owns 32,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,423,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Voya Financial by 59.6% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 573 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Voya Financial by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Voya Financial by 56.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.87. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced 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 net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is currently 28.40%.

Voya Financial Company 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.