ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) saw a significant drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,002,207 shares, a drop of 52.2% from the May 31st total of 2,095,786 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 4,452,077 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ING. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in ING Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership grew its holdings in shares of ING Group by 197.2% during the 4th quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ING Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Binnacle Investments Inc boosted its stake in ING Group by 57.0% during the third quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 1,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ING Group by 359.9% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ING. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of ING Group from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ING Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ING Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

ING Group Stock Performance

Shares of ING traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $31.38. The stock had a trading volume of 2,799,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,185,915. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.74. ING Group has a fifty-two week low of $21.84 and a fifty-two week high of $32.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. ING Group had a net margin of 27.68% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The company had revenue of $616.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.86 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ING Group will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

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.