ING Group (NYSE:ING) Downgraded by Zacks Research to "Hold"

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded ING Group from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Monday.
• Analyst views are mixed—one Strong Buy, four Buy and four Hold—giving MarketBeat a consensus rating of Moderate Buy for ING.
• ING recently beat estimates with EPS of $0.56 versus $0.50 and revenue of $6.80B vs. $6.67B, while trading at a P/E of about 12.3 and a market cap near $85.5B.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on ING. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered ING Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded ING Group from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded ING Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ING Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

ING Group Stock Up 0.7%

ING Group stock opened at $29.38 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market cap of $85.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.80. ING Group has a twelve month low of $18.36 and a twelve month high of $31.17.

ING Group (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.67 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.05% and a net margin of 27.50%. On average, analysts forecast that ING Group will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of ING Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ING. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 249.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,047,717 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $53,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,527 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 61.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of ING Group by 4,512.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 911,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,520,000 after acquiring an additional 891,652 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA increased its position in shares of ING Group by 280.3% in the 3rd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 900,936 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $23,496,000 after acquiring an additional 664,063 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of ING Group by 7.3% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 593,424 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company's stock.

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.

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