ING Groep (NYSE:ING) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.65 Per Share

ING Groep (NYSE:ING) announced a semi-annual dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.6526 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 9th. This represents a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This is a 291.5% increase from ING Groep’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17.

ING Groep has raised its dividend by an average of 19.7% per year over the last three years. ING Groep has a payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect ING Groep to earn $2.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.33 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.9%.

ING Groep Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of ING Groep stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.06. 2,618,031 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,268,650. The stock has a market cap of $70.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. ING Groep has a 12-month low of $15.09 and a 12-month high of $20.79.

ING Groep (NYSE:ING) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.02). ING Groep had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 28.30%. As a group, analysts forecast that ING Groep will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ING Groep from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th.

About ING Groep

ING Groep N.V. provides various banking products and services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through five segments: Retail Netherlands, Retail Belgium, Retail Germany, Retail Other, and Wholesale Banking. The company accepts current and savings accounts.