ING Group (NYSE:ING) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $29.77 and last traded at $29.6260, with a volume of 253463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ING. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of ING Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup raised ING Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on ING Group in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ING Group currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

ING Group Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The company has a market cap of $86.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.82.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.35 billion. ING Group had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 26.94%. On average, research analysts forecast that ING Group, N.V. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ING Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 8th were issued a $0.2009 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 71.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 8th. ING Group’s payout ratio is presently 31.08%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ING. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of ING Group by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors increased its position in ING Group by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 62,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,971 shares during the period. Invested Advisors purchased a new stake in ING Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in ING Group by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 37,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,290 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lifted its position in ING Group by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 8,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. 4.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.