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

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

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ING shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of ING Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of ING Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th.

ING Group Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:ING opened at $36.77 on Wednesday. ING Group has a 1-year low of $23.64 and a 1-year high of $37.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.84.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 28.15%. On average, equities analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were paid 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 presently 29.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in ING Group by 4,512.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 911,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,520,000 after acquiring an additional 891,652 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $218,535,000 after purchasing an additional 191,101 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 341,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,902,000 after purchasing an additional 162,805 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in ING Group by 9.5% in 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. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in ING Group by 954.1% during the first quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 101,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 91,896 shares during the period. 4.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ING Group Company Profile

ING Group N.V. is a Dutch international banking and financial services company headquartered in Amsterdam. Through its banking operations, ING provides retail and commercial banking services, including checking and savings accounts, consumer and business lending, mortgages, payments, investment products and digital banking solutions.

The company serves individual customers, small and medium-sized businesses, large corporations and institutional clients. Its retail banking activities are concentrated primarily in Europe, while its wholesale banking business supports clients in numerous countries with corporate lending, trade finance, financial markets, cash management and other banking services.