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Voya Financial (VOYA) Inks a Deal to Buy Benefit Strategies

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Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA - Free Report) has agreed to buy a leading third-party administrator of health savings and spending accounts, Benefit Strategies, LLC. The transaction terms were kept under wraps. Pending regulatory conditions, the deal is projected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

Founded in 1989, Benefit Strategies is a third-party administration firm, which specializes in design, compliance and administration of benefits. It has expanded its services to include COBRA, Commuter Choice and Health Reimbursement Arrangement Administration. The firm caters to over 3,000 valued clients across the United States.

This transaction is expected to boost Voya’s workplace growth strategy and will facilitate the expansion in health savings and spending accounts market. Further, Benefit Strategies will strengthen Voya’s capabilities to cater to new and existing health savings and spending account clients through its enhanced call center support, implementation management and ongoing client services.

Moreover, both the companies remain focused on enabling individuals to leverage the benefits of workplace-based savings accounts. Thus, they share the same cultural fit.

The deal will further enable Voya to harness its skills and abilities in its Investment Management business, which currently manages invested assets in Voya’s health savings accounts.

Voya Financial provides its principal products and services through three segments, Wealth Solutions, Investment Management and Health Solutions. It provides health, wealth and investment solutions that enable its individuals, workplace and institutional clients to achieve their financial wellness goals with confidence. Therefore, this transaction is expected to bolster the business of the life insurer, which in turn will pave the way for top-line growth.
The Wealth Solutions segment accounted for 49% of the total revenues of the company in the first quarter of 2021, while Health Solutions business accounted for 38%.

Compared with 2019, assets in health savings accounts grew 25% and the number of new HSAs increased 6% in 2020, bringing the total number of HSAs to approximately 30 million in the Unites States as disclosed by the CEO of Health Solutions of Voya Financial.

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has outperformed its industry in the past year. Shares of the company have gained 69.7% compared with the industry’s growth of 44.3%.


Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance sector are Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (SIGI - Free Report) , Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC - Free Report) and American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG - Free Report) . While Selective Insurance sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), American Financial and Manulife Financial carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Selective Insurance surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters, with the average surprise being 35.12%.

Manulife Financial surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average surprise being 13.01%.

American Financial surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters, with the average surprise being 32.2%.

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