Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 167,510 Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Voya Financial, buying 167,510 shares valued at about $12.5 million and representing roughly 0.18% of the company.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: several firms raised price targets, and the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $91.73.
• Voya reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.26 beating estimates, while revenue came in slightly below expectations; the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per share.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 167,510 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $12,478,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Voya Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VOYA. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Voya Financial by 75.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 351 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Voya Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of Voya Financial by 5,180.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 528 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Voya Financial

In other news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of Voya Financial 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $259,830. This trade represents a 58.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.57% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VOYA. Barclays increased their target price on Voya Financial from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Voya Financial from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Voya Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on Voya Financial from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Voya Financial from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.73.

Voya Financial Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of VOYA opened at $91.39 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.36 and a 200 day moving average of $75.01. Voya Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.50 and a 52-week high of $92.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.Voya Financial's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be given a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. Voya Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.40%.

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.