NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Short Interest Update

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,203,371 shares, a decrease of 39.6% from the February 26th total of 1,991,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,394,865 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.3 days. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NatWest Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWG. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 1,102,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,607,000 after purchasing an additional 249,117 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in NatWest Group in the third quarter valued at $3,579,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in NatWest Group by 62.3% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,621,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,947,000 after buying an additional 622,331 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in NatWest Group by 21.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,550,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,943,000 after buying an additional 268,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NatWest Group by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,905,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,611,000 after buying an additional 851,997 shares during the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NatWest Group Trading Down 0.2%

NatWest Group stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $14.27. The company had a trading volume of 4,705,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,761,058. The stock has a market cap of $56.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. NatWest Group has a 1-year low of $10.40 and a 1-year high of $19.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.06.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.08. NatWest Group had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 18.59%.The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. As a group, analysts expect that NatWest Group will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NatWest Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.621 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a yield of 895.0%. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on NWG. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Zacks Research raised NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded NatWest Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

About NatWest Group

NatWest Group plc is a major UK-based banking and financial services group headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company traces its roots to the Royal Bank of Scotland, founded in 1727, and adopted the NatWest Group name in 2020 as part of a strategic refocus on its NatWest brand. NatWest Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and also has American depositary shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NWG.

The group provides a broad range of banking services across retail, private, commercial, corporate and institutional segments.