Pacer Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 17,517 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,310,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VOYA. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Voya Financial by 4.2% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,269 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Voya Financial by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 10,098 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 32,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,278,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Voya Financial by 5.1% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Voya Financial Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE VOYA opened at $74.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.90. Voya Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.43 and a twelve month high of $78.00. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $72.46 and its 200 day moving average is $72.92.

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

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a $0.47 dividend. This is a boost from Voya Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Voya Financial from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.56.

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.