NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $15.08, but opened at $14.32. NatWest Group shares last traded at $14.1010, with a volume of 807,665 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of NatWest Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

NatWest Group Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $56.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. NatWest Group had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NatWest Group plc will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.621 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 886.0%. NatWest Group’s payout ratio is currently 27.93%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NatWest Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NatWest Group by 47.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 281,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,357,000 after buying an additional 90,057 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NatWest Group by 14,445.1% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 14,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 14,734 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 7.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,474,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,181,000 after buying an additional 455,538 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in NatWest Group during the 1st quarter valued at $2,282,000. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 70.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 24,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 10,034 shares during the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.