Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases New Shares in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 73,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $6,681,000. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.08% of Voya Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Voya Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $850,187,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $520,280,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,492,908 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $334,677,000 after buying an additional 230,877 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,673,118 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,947,000 after buying an additional 46,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,557,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $265,363,000 after acquiring an additional 61,962 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VOYA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Voya Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 price target on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.85.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Voya Financial stock opened at $102.40 on Thursday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $64.50 and a one year high of $103.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.90.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.25 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 31.70%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.57% of the company’s stock.

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.