ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ING. Citigroup upgraded shares of ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, December 29th.

ING Group Stock Performance

NYSE:ING opened at $29.04 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.46 and its 200-day moving average is $25.55. ING Group has a 1-year low of $16.04 and a 1-year high of $29.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market cap of $84.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.82.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. ING Group had a net margin of 26.94% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $6.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

ING Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 8th were paid a $0.2009 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 71.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 8th. ING Group’s payout ratio is currently 31.08%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Fund Management S.A. grew its holdings in ING Group by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 612,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,396,000 after acquiring an additional 78,622 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of ING Group by 64.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 467,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,233,000 after purchasing an additional 183,891 shares in the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in ING Group by 11.0% during the second quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 220,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,829,000 after purchasing an additional 21,853 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in ING Group by 25.2% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,314,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,753,000 after purchasing an additional 264,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in ING Group by 45.5% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 279,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,116,000 after purchasing an additional 87,464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

ING Group Company Profile

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.