ING Group (NYSE:ING) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ING Group (NYSE:ING) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on ING. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of ING Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup raised shares of ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ING Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ING Group Stock Performance

Shares of ING opened at $25.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. ING Group has a one year low of $16.47 and a one year high of $31.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.77 and a 200 day moving average of $26.74.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.67 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 12.05% and a net margin of 27.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

ING Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.8796 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 17th. This represents a dividend yield of 589.0%. ING Group’s payout ratio is 62.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in ING Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of ING Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $405,000. Compound Planning Inc. increased its stake in shares of ING Group by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 58,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,635,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ING Group by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 54,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 9,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of ING Group by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 110,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 10,335 shares during the period. 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.