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

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,178,949 shares, a growth of 106.3% from the April 30th total of 1,541,114 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,296,985 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

ING Group Price Performance

Shares of ING stock traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $31.04. The company had a trading volume of 2,027,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,270,587. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.50 and its 200 day moving average is $28.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. ING Group has a one year low of $20.39 and a one year high of $31.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.84.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $616.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.86 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that ING Group will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ING. Zacks Research cut shares of ING Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of ING Group from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in ING Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $451,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in ING Group by 249.9% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,047,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,404,000 after buying an additional 1,462,527 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in ING Group by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 717,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,103,000 after buying an additional 157,111 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in ING Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,990,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,918,000 after purchasing an additional 82,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in ING Group by 665.4% during the 4th quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 44,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 38,983 shares during the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.