Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $79.71, but opened at $76.25. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Voya Financial shares last traded at $75.61, with a volume of 255,332 shares.

VOYA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Voya Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $92.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Voya Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tony D. Oh sold 715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.95, for a total transaction of $58,594.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Voya Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 25.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,884,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $228,474,000 after acquiring an additional 592,523 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 1.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,678,016 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $212,152,000 after acquiring an additional 38,438 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 248,795 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 29.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 651,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,376,000 after acquiring an additional 148,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 7.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 562,355 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,011,000 after acquiring an additional 37,760 shares during the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Voya Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.10.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The asset manager reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.07. Voya Financial had a net margin of 8.81% and a return on equity of 15.09%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 8.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Voya Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 28.66%.

Voya Financial Company Profile

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.