Vest Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA)

Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,553 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $1,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,067,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $818,094,000 after purchasing an additional 644,216 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 83.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,525,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $186,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,822 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 1,020.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,368,185 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,773 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 13.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,055,263 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $146,234,000 after purchasing an additional 248,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 29.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 651,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,376,000 after purchasing an additional 148,810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VOYA opened at $83.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.03. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.02 and a 52 week high of $83.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.53.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The asset manager reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 16.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. This is an increase from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VOYA. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Voya Financial from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Voya Financial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Voya Financial from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Voya Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Voya Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.27.

Voya Financial Company Profile

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.