The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price has toppled 16% in 15 years. Have the dividends been worth the pain?

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) share price hasn’t exactly amassed a reputation as a strong performer on the ASX boards recently. Despite the prestige it commands as a core member of the ASX 200 big four banks, ANZ shares remain down 7.4% in 2022, and 8.11% over the past 12 months, going off current pricing. The bank is also down close to 18% over the past 5 years.

But that’s not where this ASX bank’s woes end. ANZ’s last share price peak was way back in 2015. Almost exactly 7 years ago, ANZ shares topped $36 – a level they have never really even gotten close to since.

But what might be even more surprising for investors is to learn that the ANZ share price, as it stands today, remains down more than 16% from where it was back in October 2007. Yes, between then and now, ANZ shares have lost roughly 16%. Not exactly what investors who bought in back then might have hoped for.

What exactly has the ANZ share price given back?

But as we all know, investors usually buy ASX bank shares for the dividends. Any capital growth is just a bonus for many long-term bank shareholders. And ANZ has indeed paid out what have usually been large and fully franked dividends every year since 2007. So have these dividends been worth the capital losses that ANZ investors have had to put up with over the past 15 years?

So back in mid-October 2007, ANZ was going for approximately $30.93 a share at our reference point. If an investor bought $10,000 worth of ANZ shares back then, they would have received 323 shares, with a few dollars in change left over.

Today, those 132 shares would be worth roughly $8,385 on current pricing.

But let’s factor in those dividends.

But… the dividends!

So since October 2007, fully franked, including the two payments last year. If an investor held those 323 shares all the way through, they would have received a total of $6,744.24 in dividend income.

Add that to our remaining principal of $8,385 and we get a total shareholder return of $15,129.24. That’s a return of 51.44% over those almost-15 years. That works out to be an approximate return of… 2.9% per annum. At least it’s in positive territory.

Now all of those dividends, bar one, have come fully franked. We haven’t factored that in for simplification reasons, but you can probably add a percentage point or two to account for that franking.

Even so, there have certainly been more than a few ASX shares that have bested that return over the time period in question. Perhaps even an ANZ term deposit. Without even factoring in dividend returns, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has given investors a capital return of around 66% over the same period, for example.

No doubt ANZ’s investors will be hoping that the next 15 years are a little more fruitful than the past 15 have been.

At the current ANZ share price, this ASX 200 bank offers a dividend yield of 5.48%

The post The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price has toppled 16% in 15 years. Have the dividends been worth the pain? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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 Bruce Jackson.

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