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

Shares of NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Berenberg Bank began coverage on NatWest Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th.

NatWest Group Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NWG opened at $19.28 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.66. NatWest Group has a 52 week low of $13.56 and a 52 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 for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, analysts predict that NatWest Group will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.3222 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 340.0%. NatWest Group’s payout ratio is presently 60.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake 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 period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 105.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 39,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 20,412 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of NatWest Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,969,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,048,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in NatWest Group by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,216,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,791,000 after purchasing an additional 153,625 shares during the period. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.