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

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,084,196 shares, a growth of 52.4% from the August 31st total of 2,024,123 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,647,583 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

ING Group Trading Down 3.2%

ING Group stock opened at $34.36 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.84. ING Group has a 52-week low of $23.64 and a 52-week high of $37.52.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. ING Group had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 12.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of ING Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ING. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in ING Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,804,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,535,000 after buying an additional 191,101 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in ING Group by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 341,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,902,000 after acquiring an additional 162,805 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in ING Group by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 1,803,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,986,000 after acquiring an additional 156,461 shares during the period. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in ING Group by 954.1% during the 1st quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 101,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,645,000 after acquiring an additional 91,896 shares during the period. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in ING Group by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 632,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,717,000 after acquiring an additional 86,364 shares in the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ING Group Company Profile

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.