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

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 1,943,040 shares, an increase of 63.1% from the July 30th total of 1,191,229 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,368,648 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of ING Group by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,177 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of ING Group by 4,512.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 911,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,520,000 after purchasing an additional 891,652 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of ING Group by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,764,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $191,681,000 after buying an additional 593,424 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in ING Group by 33,683.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 309,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,655,000 after acquiring an additional 308,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ING Group during the 4th quarter worth about $5,568,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

ING Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ING traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,357,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,926,260. The company has a market cap of $100.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.84. ING Group has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $36.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.43. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.04. ING Group had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 12.59%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. On average, analysts forecast that ING Group will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

ING Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $0.458 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 260.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. ING Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.10%.

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.