Morgan Stanley Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for ING Group (NYSE:ING)

ING Group (NYSE:ING)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

ING has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research raised ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on ING Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ING Group has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ING Group Price Performance

ING opened at $25.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.84. ING Group has a 1 year low of $16.47 and a 1 year high of $31.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. ING Group had a net margin of 27.50% and a return on equity of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.67 billion. Research analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 593,424 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 191,101 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised 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 acquiring an additional 73,959 shares during the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its position in ING Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 2,795,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,904,000 after acquiring an additional 26,639 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake 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 valued at $75,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. 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 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.