VOYA Stock Trading at a Discount to Industry at 1.11X: Time to Buy?

Shares of  Voya Financial, Inc. VOYAare trading at a discount compared to the Zacks Life Insurance industry. Its price-to-book value of 1.11X is lower than the industry average of 1.63X, the Finance sector’s 4.23X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 8.2X.

The insurer has a market capitalization of $7 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.8 million. The insurer has a Value Score of B.

Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. BHF, Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated RGA and Manulife Financial Corp MFC are also trading at a discount to the industry average.

Price Performance of VOYA

Shares of Voya Financialhave gained 11% over the year, outperforming its industry’s 8.7% growth,while underperforming the Finance sector and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s increase of 19% and 18.1%, respectively.

VOYA vs Industry, Sector & S&P 500

VOYA Trading Above 50-Day and 200-Day Moving Averages

VOYA has been trading above its 200-day simple moving average (SMA), signaling a short-term bullish trend.  The 50-day SMA is a key indicator for traders and analysts to identify support and resistance levels. It is considered particularly important as this is the first marker of an uptrend or downtrend.

VOYA’s Growth Projection Encourages 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Voya Financial’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 37.3%, while the same for revenues is pegged at $1.2 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 14.9%. The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 17.1% and 10.3%, respectively, from the 2025 estimates.

The consensus estimates for 2025 and 2026 earnings moved 2.2% and 0.4% north, respectively in the last seven days, reflecting analysts' optimism.

Average Target Price for VOYA Suggests Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 12 analysts, the Zacks average price target is $81.4 per share. The average indicates a potential 14.7% upside from the last closing price.

Key Points to Note for VOYA

Voya Financial’s long-term strategic partnership with Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) has enhanced scale and diversification for Voya Investment Management, consistently delivering strong financial results. The acquisition has significantly broadened its asset management capabilities, transforming Voya Investment Management into a global provider of investment solutions across a wide range of attractive asset classes and markets.

Voya generates robust earnings from its diversified portfolio of Wealth Solutions, Investment Management, and Health Solutions, businesses characterized by high growth potential, strong returns, and a capital-light model. Continued expansion of its distribution network and efficiency gains from automation are expected to drive outperformance versus the industry.

While Voya benefits from strong performance across its core businesses and is poised for margin expansion in Health Solutions, it also faces some headwinds. Rising expenses, driven by higher policyholder benefits, interest credited to contract owner account balances, operating costs, net amortization of deferred policy acquisition costs, interest expense, and other charges, have added pressure on results. In the second quarter, total benefits and expenses increased 2.1% year over year to $1.8 billion.

Conclusion

Overall, Voya’s diversified business mix, strategic partnerships, and operational efficiencies provide a solid foundation for growth. However, expense pressures and rising benefit costs remain challenges that could temper the pace of its financial performance.

Given the balanced mix of strengths and headwinds, it is therefore wise to adopt a wait-and-see approach on this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research