ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of ING Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd.

Institutional Trading of ING Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ING Group by 1.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of ING Group by 0.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of ING Group by 57.0% during the 3rd quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in ING Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,659,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ING Group Stock Performance

NYSE ING opened at $29.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.39. ING Group has a 12-month low of $16.47 and a 12-month high of $31.17. The company has a market capitalization of $86.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

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. The company had revenue of $4.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. ING Group had a net margin of 27.50% and a return on equity of 12.26%. Analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

ING Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a $0.8796 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 589.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 17th. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.87%.

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.