California State Teachers Retirement System Has $7.73 Million Stake in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 24.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,484 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $7,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Voya Financial by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 48,204 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,293,000 after purchasing an additional 5,458 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 6.8% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 237,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,229,000 after buying an additional 15,186 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 13.4% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 189,949 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,977,000 after buying an additional 22,439 shares in the last quarter. FCA Corp TX grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 2.5% during the first quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 40,001 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,733,000 after buying an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 173.7% during the first quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 5,014 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,830. This trade represents a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Voya Financial Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:VOYA opened at $100.91 on Wednesday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.50 and a 1 year high of $103.85. The company has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $92.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.47). Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Voya Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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, July 9th. Raymond James Financial raised Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Voya Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.15.

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.