ING Group (NYSE:ING) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $33.60 and last traded at $33.4850, with a volume of 1862455 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ING Group Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $95.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.24, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.27% and a net margin of 27.68%.The business had revenue of $616.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.86 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ING. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ING Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 106,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,973,000 after buying an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc increased its holdings in ING Group by 57.0% during the third quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.