NWG Stock Recent News

NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) has rallied over the year so far despite the government selling off its stake in the bank, likely leaving shares in fair value territory, Jefferies analysts believe. A ‘buy' rating was downgraded to a ‘hold' by Jefferies as a result, following the 45% increase in NatWest stock since January.

NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) has rallied over the year so far despite the government selling off its stake in the bank, likely leaving shares in fair value territory, Jefferies analysts believe. A ‘buy' rating was downgraded to a ‘hold' by Jefferies as a result, following the 45% increase in NatWest stock since January.

The taxpayer's stake in NatWest Group PLC has been further trimmed to below 27% as the government looks to fully privatise the bank by 2025 or 2026.  An announcement this morning confirmed that the stake now stands at below 34.9 billion shares or 26.95%.

The investment banking arm of Barclays has raised its price target for Natwest Group PLC to 400p and reiterated its 'overweight' stance on the stock, saying it continues to see 'significant upside' for the stock. In a short note, which failed to provide the original target, Barclays also said earnings momentum for Natwest was 'turning positive' with a re-rating of the investment proposition buoyed by the exit of the UK government as a significant shareholder and its 'strongly growing' tangible net asset value.

Natwest subsidiary Coutts was accused of another own goal after it revealed it intends to dump billions of pounds worth of UK stocks. Barely ten months on from the Nigel Farage debanking rumpus, the bank has told clients it needs to end its home bias and focusing on UK shares was an “anachronism that had to change.

Shares in NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) succumbed to some mild profit-taking on Monday, though the mood generally among investors appears to be reasonably upbeat following last week's quarterly results. RBC Capital tweaked its model to come up with a new price target of 355p, 15p higher than the previous valuation, although it retains its 'sector perform' recommendation.

Two more big lenders have announced increased fixed rates on mortgages this morning, with NatWest and Santander following Halifax's move at the end of last week.  Natwest has announced a hike across the full range of residential and buy-to-let products from tomorrow, and Santander also unveiled a suite of rate increases for both fixed and tracker by up to 0.25% from Tuesday too.

NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) shares were up 6% in afternoon trading after the bank's quarterly earnings beat City estimates - even if they were down by over a quarter year-on-year. The bank's profit before tax (PBT) reached £1,330 million, a 27% decrease year-on-year but 5% above the market consensus.

NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) shares are nearing a five-year-high after jumping around 6% on the back of a strong first-quarter update and news the government has further sold its stake. After reporting its results, the lender revealed the government's stake in it has dropped below 28% as part of the ongoing sale strategy which was launched in August 2021.

Shares in NatWest Group NatWest Group rose on Friday as results for the first few months of 2024 beat City forecasts.