London, Jan 8, 2026, 09:22 GMT — Regular session
- NatWest shares were firmer in early London trade after Wednesday’s broker-driven drop.
- Barclays cut the stock to equal-weight; NatWest disclosed more buybacks in a U.S. filing.
- Annual results on Feb. 13 are the next key read on guidance and capital returns.
NatWest Group (NWG.L) shares were up 0.6% at 636.2 pence on Thursday, after opening lower and trading between 625.0p and 637.2p on a 15-minute delay. The stock is about 6% below Tuesday’s 52-week peak of 674.2p.
The move comes a day after NatWest slid 4.3% when Barclays downgraded the lender to “equal-weight” from “overweight” — broker shorthand for stepping back to a neutral view from a buy-leaning one. Heavyweight banks dragged the FTSE 100 lower in that session. Reuters
Investors are now trying to work out whether the downgrade is a speed bump or a turn. NatWest is due to publish its annual results at 0700 GMT on Feb. 13, when it has said it will set guidance for 2026 and new targets for 2028.
Barclays kept its price target at 700p and said it would “pause for breath” after a strong run in the shares, according to a note cited by Vox Markets. The broker also pointed to Lloyds as its preferred UK domestic bank. Vox Markets
NatWest has continued its share buyback — a programme where a company repurchases stock and typically cancels it to shrink the share count. A U.S. securities filing showed it bought 848,792 shares on Jan. 7 at a volume-weighted average price of 638.20p and said it intended to cancel the repurchased stock.
The rate backdrop is still in the frame. Halifax said house prices fell 0.6% in December, and its head of mortgages Amanda Bryden said the uncertainty behind the drop “should now be starting to unwind”; EY Item Club’s Matt Swannell said “interest rates will be cut less this year than they were last year” even as markets price one or two more Bank of England quarter-point cuts. Reuters
But a faster turn lower in rates, or a sharper wobble in UK credit, would test the buyback story that has helped support NatWest stock. Barclays said it saw limited upside to consensus earnings and warned of potential downside to repurchases if NatWest’s capital buffer tightens, and it expects the bank to target a 13% common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio — a core gauge of loss-absorbing capital — down from its current 13%-14% range.
