ING Group (NYSE:ING) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley upgraded ING Group from “equal weight” to “overweight.” The stock has an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus, with one Strong Buy, four Buy, and three Hold ratings.
• ING shares opened at $35.25, near their 52-week high of $36.24, with a market capitalization of about $100.82 billion. In its latest quarter, the company reported EPS of $0.79, beating estimates by $0.04.
• Institutional investors increased their positions, including Wells Fargo, which raised its stake by 61.9%, and Bank of America, which boosted its holdings by 7.3%; institutions and hedge funds own 4.49% of ING’s stock.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ING. Weiss Ratings cut ING Group from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded ING Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

ING Group Trading Down 0.2%

ING Group stock opened at $35.25 on Wednesday. ING Group has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $36.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.43.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in ING Group by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,764,562 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $191,681,000 after buying an additional 593,424 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ING Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,804,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $218,535,000 after purchasing an additional 191,101 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of ING Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,456,398 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $116,223,000 after purchasing an additional 73,959 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $75,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 1,803,670 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,986,000 after purchasing an additional 156,461 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source