NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) saw a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a drop of 38.2% from the August 15th total of 2,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.5 days. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NatWest Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in NatWest Group by 28.4% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 9,678,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,721,000 after buying an additional 2,139,290 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of NatWest Group by 46.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,402,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,290,000 after acquiring an additional 765,671 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 55.4% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,759,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,127,000 after purchasing an additional 627,097 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in NatWest Group by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,632,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,347,000 after purchasing an additional 418,878 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in NatWest Group by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,306,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,356,000 after purchasing an additional 401,868 shares in the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NWG shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of NatWest Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Kepler Capital Markets began coverage on NatWest Group in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

NatWest Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NWG opened at $8.83 on Friday. NatWest Group has a twelve month low of $4.30 and a twelve month high of $9.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $36.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50 day moving average is $8.88 and its 200 day moving average is $7.94.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NatWest Group will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.1543 per share. This represents a yield of 4.3%. This is a positive change from NatWest Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th.

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.