The QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) share price has been among the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) in 2021.
Since the start of the year, the insurance giant's shares have risen 38%.
This is more than triple the return of the benchmark index during the period.
Could the QBE share price reach $14.00 by the end of the year?
Despite the impressive performance by the QBE share price this year, a number of leading brokers believe the company's shares still have room to climb.
One of those is Citi. Its analysts currently have a buy rating and $14.10 price target on the company's shares. Based on the current QBE share price of $11.78, this implies potential upside of just under 20% for investors.
And with the broker pencilling in a 50 cents per share dividend in FY 2022, the total potential return increases to approximately 24%.
In light of this, Citi appears to believe there's potential for the QBE share price to be trading around the $14.00 mark come the end of the year.
Why is the broker bullish?
Citi was pleased with QBE's performance during the first half of FY 2021 and is expecting more of the same in the future.
It commented: "QBE's result showed ample evidence of the strong top line growth and improving margins we were anticipating and it seems like there is plenty more to come."
"Rate rises continue to be strong, business growth opportunities are being taken and QBE seems to be sensibly using the strong margin environment to further an element of prudence. Evidence in this can be seen in the IBNR for risk losses, a probably conservative 1H21 COR for crop and the level of retained COVID provisioning despite minimal claims on some areas."
This led to the broker lifting its earnings estimates materially. It now expects earnings per share of 81 cents in FY 2021, 101 cents in FY 2022, and 125 cents in FY 2023.
It concluded: "We lift our forecasts for both margin and growth with significant 15-24% upgrades to EPS. With the industry environment continuing to be very supportive we retain our Buy call."
