Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Lowers Stock Position in ING Group, N.V. $ING

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its holdings in ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,805,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 297,343 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.31% of ING Group worth $214,437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ING. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in ING Group in the second quarter worth $37,000. Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of ING Group in the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ING Group by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 3,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 4,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of ING Group during the second quarter valued at about $85,000. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ING Group Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE ING opened at $26.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $83.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.74. ING Group, N.V. has a one year low of $15.09 and a one year high of $26.64.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.06. ING Group had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 26.94%.The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ING shares. Morgan Stanley raised ING Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday. Cfra Research upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup raised ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy”.

About ING Group

ING Groep N.V. provides various banking products and services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through five segments: Retail Netherlands, Retail Belgium, Retail Germany, Retail Other, and Wholesale Banking. The company accepts current and savings accounts.