Short Interest in NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Drops By 27.9%

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,040,000 shares, a drop of 27.9% from the February 28th total of 5,600,000 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,920,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NWG. BNP Paribas lowered NatWest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Peel Hunt downgraded NatWest Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NatWest Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWG. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in NatWest Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,339,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,243,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,982,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,926 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in NatWest Group by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,712,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,924,000 after purchasing an additional 944,464 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in NatWest Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,578,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in NatWest Group by 57.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,988,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,611,000 after purchasing an additional 721,578 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

NatWest Group Stock Performance

NatWest Group stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $11.95. 3,622,939 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,014,568. NatWest Group has a fifty-two week low of $6.70 and a fifty-two week high of $12.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $48.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.40.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NatWest Group will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.3899 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from NatWest Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.88%.

NatWest Group Company Profile

NatWest Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Retail Banking, Private Banking, and Commercial & Institutional segments.