Causeway Capital Management LLC Boosts Position in ING Group, N.V. $ING

Key Points

• Causeway Capital raised its stake in ING Group by 3.7% in Q3, adding 57,552 shares to hold 1,598,246 shares worth about $41.68 million at quarter-end.
• Wall Street sentiment has trended positive with multiple upgrades and a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Buy" (2 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 1 Hold).
• ING beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.56 vs. $0.50) and declared a dividend of $0.8796 payable May 1 (ex-dividend April 17); the company reported a net margin of 27.5% and a return on equity of 12.05%.

Causeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,598,246 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 57,552 shares during the period. Causeway Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.05% of ING Group worth $41,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in ING Group by 7.1% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 166,314 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,337,000 after purchasing an additional 11,072 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,632 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ING Group in the third quarter worth about $219,000. Marietta Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in ING Group by 10.1% during the third quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC now owns 128,143 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 11,712 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in ING Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 1,778,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,385,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised ING Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ING Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ING Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of ING Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of ING Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy".

ING Group Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:ING opened at $26.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business's 50 day moving average price is $28.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.78. ING Group, N.V. has a 1 year low of $16.47 and a 1 year high of $31.17.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. ING Group had a net margin of 27.50% and a return on equity of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Announces Dividend

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

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.

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