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

Shares of ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ING Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in ING Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in ING Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in ING Group by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Binnacle Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ING Group Trading Up 0.2%

ING opened at $35.67 on Friday. ING Group has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $36.24. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $102.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.00.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. ING Group had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 12.59%. As a group, research analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.458 per share. This represents a yield of 260.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

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.