ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Short Interest Update

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 1,943,040 shares, a growth of 63.1% from the July 30th total of 1,191,229 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,368,648 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

ING Group Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ING traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $35.34. 1,080,792 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,935,807. ING Group has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $36.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.36. The firm has a market cap of $101.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.10.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.04. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.59% and a net margin of 28.15%.The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.458 dividend. This represents a yield of 260.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. ING Group’s payout ratio is currently 29.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of ING Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ING Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Trading of ING Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of ING Group by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 429,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,017,000 after acquiring an additional 48,174 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in ING Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,451,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,052,000 after purchasing an additional 61,919 shares in the last quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in ING Group by 954.1% in the first quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 101,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 91,896 shares in the last quarter. Themes Management Co LLC purchased a new position in ING Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $942,000. Finally, Gibbs Wealth Management purchased a new position in ING Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $817,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

ING Group Company 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.