Analyzing Voya Financial (VOYA) and Its Competitors

Voya Financial (NYSE:VOYA) is one of 341 public companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Voya Financial to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Voya Financial and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Voya Financial	1	4	7	1	2.62
Voya Financial Competitors	1974	6900	11646	443	2.50

Voya Financial presently has a consensus target price of $103.69, suggesting a potential downside of 0.84%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 7.83%. Given Voya Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Voya Financial is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Voya Financial and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Voya Financial	7.75%	12.67%	0.45%
Voya Financial Competitors	-412.95%	-40.67%	-5.97%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of Voya Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Voya Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Voya Financial and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Voya Financial	$8.02 billion	$654.00 million	16.81
Voya Financial Competitors	$6.40 billion	$1.09 billion	9.16

Voya Financial has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its peers. Voya Financial is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Voya Financial has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Voya Financial’s peers have a beta of 2.51, meaning that their average share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Voya Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Voya Financial pays out 36.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Financial Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.0% and pay out -89.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Voya Financial has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Voya Financial lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

Voya Financial beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Voya Financial

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. The segment also provides wealth management services, such as individual retirement, managed, and brokerage accounts, as well as financial guidance and advisory services. This segment serves corporate, public and private school systems, higher education institutions, hospitals and healthcare facilities, other non-profit organizations, and state and local governments, as well as institutional and individual customers. The Health Solutions segment offers various insurance products comprising stop loss, group life, group disability, whole life, critical illness, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance. The segment also provides worksite employee benefits, health account solutions, leave management, benefits administration, health plan enrollment, financial wellness, and decision support products and services to mid-size and large corporate employers and professional associations. The Investment Management segment provides fixed income, equity, multi-asset, and alternative products and solutions to individual investors and institutional clients through its direct sales force, consultant channel, banks, broker-dealers, and independent financial advisers. The company was formerly known as ING U.S., Inc. and changed its name to Voya Financial, Inc. in April 2014. Voya Financial, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is based in New York, New York.