Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $90.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Voya Financial traded as high as $80.36 and last traded at $80.21, with a volume of 71454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.13.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Voya Financial from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Raymond James lowered Voya Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on Voya Financial from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.27.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Voya Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VOYA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 1,020.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,368,185 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $175,057,000 after buying an additional 2,156,773 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 83.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,525,604 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $186,310,000 after buying an additional 1,151,822 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 6.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,067,291 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $818,094,000 after buying an additional 644,216 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 13.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,055,263 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $146,234,000 after buying an additional 248,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial in the second quarter valued at about $13,013,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.10% of the company's stock.

Voya Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $7.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.03.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The asset manager reported $2.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.13. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. Voya Financial's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. This is a positive change from Voya Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Voya Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

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.