The Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price has been among the best performing large caps in 2021.
Since the start of the year, the banking giant's shares have gained over 23% to trade at $28.38 today.
This is more than double the return of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) this year.
Image source: Getty Images
Can the ANZ share price keep rising?
Despite the ANZ share price rising strongly already this year, one leading broker believes it can keep rising.
According to a recent note out of Morgans, its analysts have an add rating and $34.50 price target on the bank's shares.
Based on the current ANZ share price, this suggests there's still over 21% upside ahead. And that's not including dividends.
If we include the $1.65 per share fully franked dividend the broker is forecasting in FY 2022, the total potential return widens to a mouth-watering 27%.
Why is Morgans a fan?
ANZ has been the broker's top pick among the big four for a while now. This is largely due to the valuation of the ANZ share price.
It also likes the bank due to its cost reduction plans and the work it has done reducing the risk of its loan book.
Morgans recently commented: "We believe ANZ is the most compelling of the major banks on a valuation basis. We expect ANZ to continue to focus on absolute cost reduction over the medium term. ANZ has de-risked its loan book over recent years – particularly its institutional loan book – such that the quality of its loan book has improved. While ANZ's Australian home loan book has been growing below system over recent months, we expect a disciplined margin performance from ANZ."
All in all, this could make the ANZ share price one to consider if you're looking for options in the banking sector.
