ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

ING has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ING Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of ING Group in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ING. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in shares of ING Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ING Group in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Binnacle Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 57.0% in the third quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ING Group by 359.9% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ING Group Price Performance

Shares of ING opened at $29.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $86.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83. ING Group has a 1-year low of $20.39 and a 1-year high of $31.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. ING Group had a net margin of 27.68% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.86 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that ING Group will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.