NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Shares of NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG) saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 4,814,722 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 77% from the previous session’s volume of 2,721,819 shares.The stock last traded at $12.21 and had previously closed at $12.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BNP Paribas lowered shares of NatWest Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NatWest Group has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

NatWest Group Stock Down 3.9 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.78 and a 200-day moving average of $10.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $48.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.22.

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

NatWest Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.3899 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a boost from NatWest Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.36. NatWest Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NatWest Group

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

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.