Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) Stock Price

Key Points

• Bank of America cut its price objective on Voya from $72 to $70 and kept an underperform rating, implying roughly a 3.4% downside from the current price.
• Other brokers have trimmed targets too, but the consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $83.89, indicating analyst divergence on the stock's outlook.
• Voya recently missed quarterly EPS ($1.94 vs. $2.11) despite 5% revenue growth, and the stock trades near $72.46 with about 96% institutional ownership.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Bank of America from $72.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "underperform" rating on the asset manager's stock. Bank of America's target price would suggest a potential downside of 3.39% from the company's current price.

VOYA has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Voya Financial from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Evercore lowered their price objective on shares of Voya Financial from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Voya Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Voya Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.89.

Voya Financial Trading Up 0.6%

Voya Financial stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 268,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,588. The stock's fifty day moving average is $70.04 and its 200 day moving average is $72.50. Voya Financial has a 1-year low of $54.48 and a 1-year high of $79.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.11 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 7.99%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Voya Financial will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Voya Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VOYA. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Voya Financial by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 84,715 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,741,000 after purchasing an additional 15,091 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Voya Financial by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 662,058 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $44,861,000 after buying an additional 51,376 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Voya Financial by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 37,836 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,564,000 after buying an additional 4,490 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 1.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 370,144 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $25,081,000 after acquiring an additional 6,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Voya Financial by 44.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 730 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.10% of the company's stock.

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.

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