NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) Upgraded at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on NatWest Group in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised NatWest Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NatWest Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NatWest Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NatWest Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

NatWest Group Price Performance

NWG opened at $17.50 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. NatWest Group has a 52 week low of $13.76 and a 52 week high of $19.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.50 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.94.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. NatWest Group had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The company had revenue of $5.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that NatWest Group will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.3222 per share. This is a drop from NatWest Group’s previous dividend of $0.6210. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a yield of 337.0%. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Institutional Trading of NatWest Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 1,484.9% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 4,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 4,425 shares in the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NatWest Group during the third quarter worth about $241,000. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new position in shares of NatWest Group during the third quarter worth about $192,000. Athena Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NatWest Group during the third quarter worth about $295,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 9.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 2,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

About NatWest Group

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.