Caprock Group LLC Buys New Stake in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VOYA. Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the third quarter worth $575,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Voya Financial by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 215,390 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,111,000 after acquiring an additional 16,278 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Voya Financial by 253.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Voya Financial by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,131,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in Voya Financial by 21.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on VOYA. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Voya Financial from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Voya Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.78.

Voya Financial Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE VOYA opened at $74.35 on Wednesday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.43 and a 52 week high of $79.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.89.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 7.99%.Voya Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is 29.89%.

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.