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

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) was the target of a large increase in short interest in 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. Currently, 0.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,277,619 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NatWest Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in NatWest Group by 1,484.9% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 4,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 4,425 shares during the period. Riversedge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NatWest Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in shares of NatWest Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $192,000. Athena Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NatWest Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

NatWest Group Stock Down 0.4%

NWG stock opened at $17.59 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.25. NatWest Group has a 12 month low of $13.76 and a 12 month high of $19.42. The company has a market cap of $69.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $5.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. NatWest Group had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.01%. Sell-side analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.3222 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This is a negative change from NatWest Group’s previous dividend of $0.6210. This represents a dividend yield of 337.0%. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.