Short Interest in NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) Decreases By 11.5%

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,070,000 shares, a decrease of 11.5% from the February 13th total of 4,600,000 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NatWest Group from GBX 310 ($3.73) to GBX 330 ($3.97) in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Barclays cut shares of NatWest Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of NatWest Group from GBX 350 ($4.21) to GBX 380 ($4.57) in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price target on shares of NatWest Group from GBX 390 ($4.69) to GBX 380 ($4.57) in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NatWest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $351.44.

NatWest Group Price Performance

Shares of NWG opened at $6.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $33.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. NatWest Group has a fifty-two week low of $4.70 and a fifty-two week high of $7.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.35.

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a $0.2399 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 16th. This is a boost from NatWest Group’s previous — dividend of $0.20. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NatWest Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 19.1% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,175,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,206,000 after buying an additional 831,101 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 92.0% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 4,509,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,132,000 after buying an additional 2,160,512 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,157,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,855,000 after buying an additional 305,673 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,400,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,508,000 after buying an additional 234,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 35.1% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,221,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,107,000 after buying an additional 576,589 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

About NatWest Group

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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, Commercial Banking, Private Banking, RBS International, and NatWest Markets segments.