The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price got its fair share of media coverage this week.

That news didn’t focus on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank stock’s outperformance.

But it’s worth noting that in late afternoon trading today, the CBA share price is up 2.6% since last Friday’s close at $98.54. That compares to a 0.3% gain posted by the ASX 200.

Indeed, if the big four bank stock can hold onto its gains today, it will mark a whole week in the green.

Now, here are three things that put CBA shares in the news this week.

Why was CommBank making headlines?

Tuesday was a big day for CommBank following the release of its quarterly results.

Highlights included a 10% year-on-year increase in cash net profit after tax (NPAT), which reached $2.6 billion.

Both home lending and business lending were up. Though on the negative side of the ledger, the bank’s net interest margins (NIM) dipped, pressured by a very competitive home loan market and higher interest rates paid on its deposit accounts.

The CBA share price gained 0.2% on Tuesday.

CommBank was also in the news after the 2023 federal budget came out.

CBA’s chief economist Stephen Halmarick said the budget had not impacted the bank’s inflation forecast, advising it continued to see “a return to inflation within the 2% to 3% target by mid-2024”.

Halmarick added:

The other economic forecasts in the budget are consistent with our own view that the pace of economic growth will slow meaningfully in the year ahead and the unemployment rate will edge higher.

CommBank was back in The Motley Fool headlines on Thursday following a bearish assessment from Goldman Sachs.

On the back of the bank’s quarterly update, the broker retained its sell rating with an $87.78 target for the CBA share price. That’s more than 11% below the current price.

While overall fairly positive on the bank, Goldman’s primary concerns stem around the premium that CBA trades for compared to the other big four banks.

Referring to the elevated price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, Goldman’s analysts noted, “We struggle to justify the stock’s relative PER rating (43% premium to peers vs. 21% 15-yr average).”

CBA share price snapshot

Despite the solid week gone by, the CBA share price has yet to recover from its big tumble in mid-February and into March. Year to date, the ASX 200 bank stock is down 2.5%.

The post Three reasons the CBA share price made news this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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