Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on VOYA. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Voya Financial from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.56.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Shares of VOYA opened at $75.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.79. Voya Financial has a 52-week low of $52.43 and a 52-week high of $78.00.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VOYA. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Voya Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 75.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 225.6% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 149.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 481 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 5,180.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is currently 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.