First Trust Advisors LP Buys 388,520 Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) by 280.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 526,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 388,520 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Voya Financial were worth $35,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VOYA. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Voya Financial by 4,892.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 63,058 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,308,000 after purchasing an additional 61,795 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 203,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,129,000 after purchasing an additional 20,722 shares during the period. Ruffer LLP bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,153,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Voya Financial by 37.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 84,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,764,000 after purchasing an additional 23,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Algebris UK Ltd. now owns 660,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $49,242,000 after buying an additional 99,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on VOYA. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Voya Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Atlantic Securities set a $79.00 target price on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Voya Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $117.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.15.

Voya Financial Stock Performance

Voya Financial stock opened at $98.96 on Tuesday. Voya Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.50 and a twelve month high of $103.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $90.78 and its 200 day moving average is $79.66.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 13.84%. Voya Financial’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial 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.