Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $105.64 and last traded at $104.5540, with a volume of 29754 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $102.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VOYA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Voya Financial from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Voya Financial from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Voya Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.85.

Voya Financial Stock Down 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $98.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.47). Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 31.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the company’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 transaction of $359,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Voya Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VOYA. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $1,010,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Voya Financial by 6.8% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,045,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the second quarter valued at about $850,187,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Voya Financial by 4,892.7% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 63,058 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,308,000 after acquiring an additional 61,795 shares during the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.