ING Groep (NYSE:ING) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of ING Groep (NYSE:ING – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.24.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ING. Societe Generale lowered shares of ING Groep from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ING Groep in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Institutional Trading of ING Groep

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ING. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ING Groep by 3.0% in the first quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,096,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $653,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,791 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ING Groep by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,851,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,882,000 after acquiring an additional 1,673,262 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in ING Groep during the 4th quarter worth about $92,588,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of ING Groep by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,294,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,778,000 after buying an additional 619,542 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in ING Groep by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,409,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,752,000 after purchasing an additional 118,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.99% of the company’s stock.

ING Groep Price Performance

ING stock opened at $12.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.56. ING Groep has a 52 week low of $8.14 and a 52 week high of $14.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $12.55 and its 200 day moving average is $12.47.

ING Groep Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 27th will be given a $0.4101 dividend. This is a positive change from ING Groep’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.07. This represents a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 26th. ING Groep’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.63%.

About ING Groep

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ING Groep NV engages in the provision of banking, investments, life and non-life insurance, and retirement and asset management services. It operates through the following segments: Retail Netherlands, Retail Belgium, Retail Germany, Retail Other, Wholesale Banking, and Corporate Line. The Retail Netherlands segment offers current and savings accounts, business lending, mortgages, and consumer lending.