NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Short Interest Down 39.6% in March

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. L1 Capital Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in NatWest Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $146,913,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of NatWest Group by 13.1% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,531,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,069,000 after purchasing an additional 4,355,850 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 136.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,273,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,316,000 after buying an additional 1,886,141 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NatWest Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $16,650,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,061,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,570,000 after buying an additional 1,009,044 shares during the period. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NatWest Group Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE NWG traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.27. The company had a trading volume of 4,705,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,818,757. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.07. The company has a market capitalization of $56.90 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.95. NatWest Group has a one year low of $10.40 and a one year high of $19.35.

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

NatWest Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of NatWest Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

NatWest Group Company Profile

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.