88,300 Shares in NatWest Group plc $NWG Acquired by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired 88,300 shares of NatWest Group plc, valued at approximately $1,053,000, in the 1st quarter according to their recent SEC filing.
• Several institutional investors, including Natixis Advisors LLC and Bank of America Corp DE, have significantly increased their stakes in NatWest Group, indicating growing confidence in the company.
• The stock was recently downgraded from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating by Zacks Research, despite having an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from other analysts.

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in NatWest Group plc (NYSE:NWG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 88,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,053,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NWG. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its holdings in NatWest Group by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 12,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NatWest Group by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 105,441 shares of the company's stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 16,661 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of NatWest Group by 63.4% during the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 27,030 shares of the company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 10,483 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in NatWest Group in the first quarter worth $97,000. Finally, ICONIQ Capital LLC lifted its position in NatWest Group by 15.4% during the first quarter. ICONIQ Capital LLC now owns 30,218 shares of the company's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 4,029 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NWG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas downgraded NatWest Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research lowered shares of NatWest Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of NatWest Group from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NatWest Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

NatWest Group Stock Up 2.5%

NatWest Group stock traded up $0.35 during trading on Monday, reaching $14.11. 3,719,906 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,868,671. The company's 50-day moving average is $14.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $57.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.08. NatWest Group plc has a 52-week low of $8.55 and a 52-week high of $15.52.

NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. NatWest Group had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 11.99%. On average, analysts predict that NatWest Group plc will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current year.

NatWest Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 390.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. NatWest Group's payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

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.