ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company.

ING has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings cut ING Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th.

ING Group Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of ING Group stock opened at $34.86 on Friday. ING Group has a fifty-two week low of $23.63 and a fifty-two week high of $36.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $99.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.20 and a 200 day moving average of $30.19.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.04. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 28.15%.The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.458 per share. This represents a yield of 260.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in ING Group by 7.3% during the second 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in ING Group by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,804,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $218,535,000 after purchasing an additional 191,101 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in 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 worth $116,223,000 after purchasing an additional 73,959 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 61.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 1,803,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,986,000 after purchasing an additional 156,461 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.