NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Stock Short Interest Report for September

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,228,659 shares, an increase of 84.5% from the September 15th total of 1,207,880 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,277,619 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NatWest Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in NatWest Group by 28.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 566,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,443,000 after buying an additional 126,996 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NatWest Group in the second quarter valued at $4,239,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in NatWest Group by 104.6% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 175,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,101,000 after buying an additional 89,928 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in NatWest Group by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,948,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,529,000 after buying an additional 1,048,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NatWest Group by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 558,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,839,000 after buying an additional 61,748 shares during the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised NatWest Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays upgraded NatWest Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised NatWest Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on NatWest Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

NatWest Group Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:NWG traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,461,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,262,553. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.28. The company has a market capitalization of $69.59 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. NatWest Group has a fifty-two week low of $13.76 and a fifty-two week high of $19.42.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. NatWest Group had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $5.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that NatWest Group will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NatWest Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.3222 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 337.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This is a drop from NatWest Group’s previous dividend of $0.6210. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.34%.

NatWest Group Company Profile

NatWest Group plc is a United Kingdom-based banking and financial services company. Through brands including NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland and Coutts, it provides banking and financial solutions to individuals, families, businesses and institutional clients.

The group’s activities include personal and premier banking, current and savings accounts, residential mortgages, consumer lending, credit cards, wealth management, business banking, commercial lending, transaction services and investment banking.