Is Voya Financial Inc (VOYA) A Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) has experienced a bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of funds who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q4. Interestingly, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group said goodbye to the biggest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $73.4 million in stock. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $34.2 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 5 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Alkermes Plc (NASDAQ:ALKS), Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI), and Amdocs Limited (NYSE:DOX). All of these stocks’ market caps match VOYA’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $658 million. That figure was $1.10 billion in VOYA’s case. Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) is the most popular stock in this table with 33 funds disclosing positions and Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR) is the least popular one. Compared to these stocks, Voya Financial Inc (NYSE:VOYA) is more popular among hedge funds, despite the drop in the number of funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.