ING Group (NYSE:ING) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $32.40 and last traded at $32.3410, with a volume of 293170 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ING. Wall Street Zen downgraded ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research downgraded ING Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded ING Group from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ING Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ING Group Stock Down 0.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $93.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.86.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $616.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.86 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 27.68%. As a group, research analysts expect that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi purchased a new stake in ING Group in the first quarter worth about $760,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in ING Group by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 87,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 18,562 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in ING Group by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 21,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,823 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 10,650 shares in 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.