FYI | Jul 11 2006
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
I was going through the numbers on the banking sector this morning. Banking stocks are always subject to debate: time to bulk up or go underweight? This is partly due to the fact that the finance sector accounts for some 40% of the top end of the Australian market.
As can be seen from the table below, a clear majority of the banks are now trading close to their average twelve months targets, meaning share price appreciation from here on is expected to be minimal, with a few exceptions, and returns will have to come from dividend pay outs.
| Buys | Holds | Sells | Sentiment Indicator | Average Price Target | Projected Return ex-div | ||
| NAB | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0.2 | $38.10 | 5.10% | |
| ANZ | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0.2 | $28.29 | 5.40% | |
| WBC | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.3 | $25.07 | 9.40% | |
| CBA | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0.1 | $43.74 | -4.00% | |
| SGB | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.2 | $30.47 | 2.30% | |
| BEN | 1 | 4 | 5 | -0.3 | $12.50 | -5.40% | |
| ADB | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | $12.95 | -2.30% | |
| BOQ | 2 | 4 | 4 | -0.1 | $14.67 | -0.50% | |
| MBL | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0.8 | $85.61 | 25.90% | |
| BNB | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.7 | $24.13 | 13.10% | |