Short Interest in ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING) Increases By 106.3%

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

ING Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ING opened at $31.04 on Wednesday. ING Group has a fifty-two week low of $20.39 and a fifty-two week high of $31.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.50 and its 200 day simple 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. The stock has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.84.

ING Group (NYSE:ING) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.86 billion. Equities analysts expect that ING Group will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ING has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of ING Group from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of ING Group in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of ING Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ING Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ING Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of ING Group by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,764,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $191,681,000 after purchasing an additional 593,424 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in ING Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,804,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $218,535,000 after acquiring an additional 191,101 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in ING Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,456,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,223,000 after acquiring an additional 73,959 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC raised its position in ING Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 2,795,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,904,000 after acquiring an additional 26,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in ING Group by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,700,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,177 shares in the last quarter. 4.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.