ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 52.4% in September

Key Points

• Short interest in ING Group rose 52.4% to 3.08 million shares as of September 15, representing 0.1% of shares outstanding and 1.9 days to cover.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately positive: Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight, while MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Moderate Buy.” Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company.
• ING shares opened at $34.36 after declining 3.2%; the company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.79 in EPS versus the $0.75 consensus estimate, but cut its dividend to $0.4580 from $0.8796.

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,084,196 shares, an increase of 52.4% from the August 31st total of 2,024,123 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,647,583 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of ING Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in ING Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 22,251 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 11,216 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ING Group by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,309 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. grew its position in shares of ING Group by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 58,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of ING Group by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 12,540 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ING has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of ING Group from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upgraded ING Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised ING Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy".

ING Group Trading Down 3.2%

ING opened at $34.36 on Thursday. ING Group has a 12-month low of $23.64 and a 12-month high of $37.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $35.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.68.

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

ING Group Cuts Dividend

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

About ING Group

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.

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