ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company.

A number of equities analysts have commented on ING shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup upgraded shares of ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of ING Group by 249.9% in 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. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in ING Group by 197.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,667,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,926 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 280.3% in the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 900,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,496,000 after buying an additional 664,063 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 7.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,764,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $191,681,000 after buying an additional 593,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ING Group during the first quarter worth $6,833,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

ING Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ING opened at $28.14 on Friday. ING Group has a 12-month low of $15.53 and a 12-month high of $29.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 26.94%. As a group, analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.2009 per share. This represents a yield of 71.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 8th. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.63%.

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.