NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $12.55 and last traded at $12.52, with a volume of 3487770 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas downgraded NatWest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

NatWest Group Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.04.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that NatWest Group plc will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.3899 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is an increase from NatWest Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWG. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in NatWest Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $572,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in NatWest Group in the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in NatWest Group by 394.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 246,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 196,724 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in NatWest Group by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 245,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 44,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in NatWest Group by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 329,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,085,000 after purchasing an additional 145,295 shares during the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.