NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of NatWest Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NatWest Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in NatWest Group by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,912,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,879 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NatWest Group by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,399,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,498,000 after purchasing an additional 494,472 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in NatWest Group by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,061,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,044 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of NatWest Group by 17.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,948,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,529,000 after buying an additional 1,048,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NatWest Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,858,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,024,000 after buying an additional 18,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

NatWest Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NatWest Group stock opened at $18.41 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $73.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.92. NatWest Group has a 52-week low of $13.56 and a 52-week high of $19.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. NatWest Group had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The firm had revenue of $5.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NatWest Group will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.3222 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 337.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.34%.

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.