ING Group (NYSE:ING) Announces Earnings Results

ING Group (NYSE:ING) issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.11), reports. ING Group had a net margin of 27.68% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.86 billion.

ING Group Trading Down 1.3%

ING Group stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,122,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,438,886. The firm has a market cap of $83.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.83. ING Group has a twelve month low of $20.07 and a twelve month high of $31.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ING. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of ING Group from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ING Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,764,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,681,000 after purchasing an additional 593,424 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,456,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,223,000 after purchasing an additional 73,959 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,381,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,674,000 after purchasing an additional 138,181 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 983,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,511,000 after purchasing an additional 27,545 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

About ING Group

ING Group N.V. is a Dutch multinational financial services company headquartered in Amsterdam. Formed through the consolidation of Dutch financial businesses, ING operates as a banking and financial services group that serves retail, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporates and institutional clients. The company is organized under a two-tier governance model common in the Netherlands, with an Executive Board responsible for day-to-day management and a Supervisory Board providing oversight.

ING’s principal activities include retail and direct banking, commercial and wholesale banking, corporate lending, transaction services and cash management, and a range of investment and savings products.