HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 18,751 Shares of ING Group, N.V. $ING

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 846,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,751 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in ING Group were worth $22,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ING. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of ING Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $451,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. raised its stake in ING Group by 14.7% in the second quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 612,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,396,000 after purchasing an additional 78,622 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in ING Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,990,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,918,000 after purchasing an additional 82,340 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in ING Group by 64.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 467,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,233,000 after buying an additional 183,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in ING Group by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 220,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,829,000 after buying an additional 21,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

ING Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:ING opened at $29.03 on Friday. ING Group, N.V. has a 52-week low of $16.47 and a 52-week high of $31.17. The company has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.83 and a 200-day moving average of $26.35.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.26% and a net margin of 27.50%.The company had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.8796 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 589.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 17th. ING Group’s payout ratio is 28.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ING shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on ING Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

ING Group 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.