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

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

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

ING Group Price Performance

ING stock opened at $37.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $34.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.72. ING Group has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $37.52.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. Analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a dividend yield of 260.0%. ING Group’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in 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 worth $75,616,000 after buying an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 4,512.2% in the 4th 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. 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 acquiring an additional 593,424 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 33,683.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 309,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,655,000 after acquiring an additional 308,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ING Group during the 4th quarter worth about $5,568,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

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.