It certainly was a great start to the week for the Australian share market. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has just closed the day with a gain of 1.3% to 7,172.8 points.
Doing some of the heavy lifting today were the banks. They all pushed notably higher, except for the Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price.
Its shares actually ended the day with a 1.3% decline to $27.38. This compares to gains of 1.1% to 1.3% for the rest of the big four.
Why was the ANZ share price underperforming today?
The good news is that the ANZ share price wasn’t out of form on Monday due to anything operational or broker related.
The decline in the bank’s shares was entirely attributable to them trading ex-dividend this morning for its upcoming interim dividend.
In fact, if you were to remove the dividend from the equation, the ANZ share price would have recorded a gain of over 1% today.
The ANZ dividend
Last week when ANZ released its half year results, the bank declared a fully franked interim dividend of 70 cents per share.
Based on its last close price, this dividend represents a yield of 2.5%.
Eligible shareholders, those that owned shares prior to the market open today, can now look forward to being paid this dividend in around seven weeks on 1 July.
Is the ANZ share price in the buy zone?
While it is now too late to get hold of its interim dividend, it may not be too late for potential share price returns.
According to a note out of Morgans from last week, its analysts currently have an add rating and $34.50 price target on the bank’s shares.
Based on the current ANZ share price, this price target implies potential upside of 26% over the next 12 months.
Given the potential return on offer, it will come as no surprise to learn that ANZ is the broker’s top pick in the sector right now.
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 Bruce Jackson.
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