Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Lowers Stock Holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its position in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 111,503 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 71,855 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Voya Financial were worth $7,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Voya Financial by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Voya Financial in the first quarter worth $16,683,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the first quarter worth $47,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Voya Financial by 23.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,679,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $384,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Voya Financial by 922.5% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 31,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,166,000 after acquiring an additional 28,836 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Price Performance

Shares of Voya Financial stock opened at $74.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.35. Voya Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $52.43 and a one year high of $78.00.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 7.55%.Voya Financial’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 26th. This is a positive change from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Voya Financial’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VOYA. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Voya Financial from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.56.

About Voya Financial

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.