Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 36,514 Shares of Voya Financial, Inc. $VOYA

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its Voya Financial stake by 60.8% in Q1, selling 36,514 shares and leaving it with 23,515 shares worth about $1.61 million.
• Several analysts raised price targets on Voya Financial, including Barclays, TD Cowen, Wells Fargo, and UBS; the stock currently carries a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.
• Voya reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $2.26 per share, and the stock has recently traded near its 52-week high after rising about 1.1% to $97.61.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC decreased its holdings in Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA - Free Report) by 60.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,515 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 36,514 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Voya Financial were worth $1,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC raised its position in Voya Financial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC now owns 32,532 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,423,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Voya Financial by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 612 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Voya Financial

In other Voya Financial news, insider Trevor Ogle sold 3,994 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $359,460.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at $259,830. This represents a 58.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VOYA shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Voya Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Voya Financial from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Voya Financial from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Voya Financial from $95.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Voya Financial currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $96.92.

Voya Financial Trading Up 1.1%

VOYA stock opened at $97.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $86.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.86. Voya Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.50 and a fifty-two week high of $98.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Voya Financial had a return on equity of 13.84% and a net margin of 8.24%.The business's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Voya Financial, Inc. will post 9.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Voya Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Voya Financial's dividend payout ratio is 28.40%.

Voya Financial Profile

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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