Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) shares have been in fine form in 2021.
Since the start of the year, the banking giant's shares are up almost 21%.
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Is now a good time to buy ANZ shares?
The good news for investors is that a number of leading brokers still see a lot of value in ANZ shares even after this strong gain.
One of those brokers is Morgans. It recently retained its add rating and $34.50 price target on the bank's shares.
Based on the current ANZ share price of $27.90, this implies potential upside of almost 24% over the next 12 months.
And with Morgans forecasting fully franked dividends per share of $1.45 in FY 2021 and $1.65 in FY 2022, the potential return on offer stretches to approximately 29%.
What did the broker say?
Morgans thinks ANZ shares are great value and are its top pick among the big four banks.
The broker is expecting stable asset quality, better than expected net interest margins, and solid cost reductions in the near term.
In addition to this, it sees scope for the bank to increase its capital management plans. This follows the recent announcement of a $1.5 billion on-market share buyback.
Morgans commented: "[ANZ] intends to conduct an on-market buyback of up to $1.5bn of shares as part of its capital management plan. The proposed buyback start date is 3 August 2021, and the proposed end date is 18 July 2022."
"We have adjusted our forecasts for ANZ accordingly and we now forecast a CET1 ratio of 12.5% at end-FY22, equating to surplus CET1 capital (above a CET1 ratio of 11.0%) of $6.6bn. We therefore see potential for further capital management," it added.
Elsewhere, Macquarie currently has an outperform rating and $30.00 price target and Bell Potter has a buy rating and $30.00 price target on ANZ's shares.
