ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• ING Group received a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating from seven analysts: three rated the stock a hold, three a buy, and one a strong buy. Morgan Stanley upgraded the shares to overweight, while Weiss Ratings downgraded its buy rating and Zacks Research moved from strong sell to hold.
• ING shares opened at $34.77, compared with a 12-month range of $23.64 to $37.52. The company recently reported quarterly EPS of $0.79, beating estimates of $0.75, although revenue of $4.76 billion fell below the $6.99 billion analyst forecast.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.4580 per share, down from $0.8796 previously, with a reported payout ratio of 29.10%. Institutional investors own 4.49% of ING’s stock, with several firms recently increasing their positions.

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company.

Several research analysts have commented on ING shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded ING Group from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised ING Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of ING Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th.

ING Group Stock Performance

Shares of ING stock opened at $34.77 on Friday. ING Group has a twelve month low of $23.64 and a twelve month high of $37.52. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $35.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.76. The company has a market capitalization of $99.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.87.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.04. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 28.15%.The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.99 billion. On average, analysts forecast that ING Group will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $0.4580 dividend. This is a drop from ING Group's previous dividend of $0.8796. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a yield of 260.0%. ING Group's payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of ING Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,451,137 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $168,052,000 after purchasing an additional 61,919 shares in the last quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of ING Group by 954.1% in the first quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 101,528 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 91,896 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ING Group by 15.4% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 394,253 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,372,000 after purchasing an additional 52,524 shares during the period. Gibbs Wealth Management bought a new position in ING Group in the first quarter worth $817,000. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in ING Group by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 632,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,717,000 after buying an additional 86,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.49% of the company's stock.

ING Group Company Profile

ING Group N.V. is a Netherlands-based international banking and financial services company headquartered in Amsterdam. Through its banking operations, ING provides services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including current and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, commercial loans, payments, investment products and other financial solutions.

ING serves customers across Europe and has a presence in selected markets in Asia and the Americas. Its retail banking business emphasizes digital platforms and mobile banking, while its wholesale banking division provides corporate and institutional clients with lending, financial markets, transaction services and other banking solutions.

The modern ING Group was formed in 1991 through the merger of Nationale-Nederlanden, an insurer, and NMB Postbank, a banking group.

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.