NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Earnings Beat

Shares of NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) reached a new 52-week high on Monday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $13.21 and last traded at $13.19, with a volume of 958511 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $13.00.

The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion.

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.3899 per share. This is an increase from NatWest Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.36. This represents a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of NatWest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Peel Hunt lowered shares of NatWest Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NatWest Group in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Trading of NatWest Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NWG. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in NatWest Group by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 11,118,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,072,000 after purchasing an additional 408,239 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,322,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,473,000 after buying an additional 216,053 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,712,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,924,000 after acquiring an additional 944,464 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of NatWest Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 4,135,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,057,000 after acquiring an additional 10,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in NatWest Group by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,243,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,982,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,926 shares in the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NatWest Group Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $52.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.06 and a 200 day moving average of $10.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

About NatWest Group

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.