ING Group (NYSE:ING) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $35.09 and last traded at $35.09, with a volume of 8334 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ING shares. Weiss Ratings raised ING Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ING Group Price Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $101.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.62.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts predict that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a $0.458 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a yield of 262.0%. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of ING Group by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 717,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,103,000 after acquiring an additional 157,111 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of ING Group by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 429,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,017,000 after purchasing an additional 48,174 shares in the last quarter. Themes Management Co LLC acquired a new position in ING Group in the 4th quarter valued at $942,000. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in ING Group by 954.1% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Gibbs Wealth Management acquired a new position in ING Group in the 1st quarter valued at $817,000. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.