ING Group (NYSE:ING) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

ING Group (NYSE:ING) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ING Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ING Group Stock Performance

NYSE ING opened at $28.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. ING Group has a twelve month low of $16.47 and a twelve month high of $31.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.23.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 27.50%.The firm had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ING. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in ING Group by 249.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,047,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,527 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of ING Group by 61.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,616,000 after buying an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of ING Group by 4,512.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 911,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,520,000 after acquiring an additional 891,652 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 280.3% in the 3rd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 900,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,496,000 after acquiring an additional 664,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 593,424 shares in the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.