Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires Shares of 125,611 Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management acquired 125,611 Voya Financial shares valued at approximately $11.4 million, giving it a 0.14% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 96.1% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Voya receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $102.15, compared with the stock’s reported price of $100.40.
• Voya reported quarterly earnings of $1.51 per share, missing estimates of $1.98, while revenue declined 4.3% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% yield.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 125,611 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $11,372,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.14% of Voya Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

VOYA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $111.00 price objective on shares of Voya Financial in a report on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Voya Financial from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Voya Financial from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Voya Financial from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Voya Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $102.15.

Voya Financial Price Performance

VOYA stock opened at $100.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.31. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.50 and a 52-week high of $103.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.89.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The asset manager reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.98 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Voya Financial had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 12.31%. Voya Financial's revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. Voya Financial's payout ratio is presently 31.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,887 shares in the company, valued at $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source