ING Group (NYSE:ING) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ING Group (NYSE:ING) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on ING. Zacks Research upgraded shares of ING Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings cut 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, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ING Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ING Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ING opened at $37.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.59. The stock has a market cap of $106.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.84. ING Group has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $37.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

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

ING Group Cuts Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ING Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of ING Group by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 22,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ING Group by 3.1% in the second quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 11,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ING Group by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in ING Group by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in ING Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 106,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,973,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

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.