This top ASX broker tips Coles (ASX:COL) shares for 20% upside

Is Coles a buy today?

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The Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) share price is having a fairly robust day of trading this Tuesday. At the time of writing, Coles shares are up a healthy 1.23% at $16.40 a share. However, that still puts Coles underwater for 2022 so far, given the company is still down by 8.6% year to date. Coles is also down for the past 12 months, having given up 9.75% over the last year.

So after a year of… treading water (to put it kindly) for Coles shares, many investors might be wondering what's next for the second-largest grocer in the country. Perhaps it's understandable investors were a bit wary of Coles over January. Not only did we have some significant market volatility which saw the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) enter a technical correction at one point. But we also got a warning from Coles' arch-rival Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) in early January.

This told the public that Woolies was experiencing stock and supply chain issues due to the impacts of the latest coronavirus wave. As such, Woolworths warned us that many stores would have reduced product availability for at least a few weeks. If Woolworths was experiencing issues like these, it's arguably a fair bet that things aren't totally normal over at Coles either.

But now we've started February, what might the outlook for the Coles share price be?

A happy, smiling woman rides on the back of a trolley down the aisles of a supermarket.

Image source: Getty Images

Top ASX brokers: Coles shares are a buy

Well, one ASX broker is extremely bullish on Coles shares right now — and that is Citi. As my Fool colleague James covered last week, Citi has slapped a buy rating on Coles shares and given the supermarket a 12-month share price target of $19.60. That implies a potential future upside of 19.51% on current pricing. Citi sees some value in the current Coles share price and is pencilling in a 65 cents per share dividend for FY2022 and 72 cents for FY2023. That implies fully franked yields of well over 4% for both years.

But Citi isn't the only broker rating Coles as a buy right now. Morgans is also bullish on this ASX 200 share. It has a 12-month share price target of $19.90 which obviously implies a slightly brighter upside to that of Citi's $19.60 share price target.

No doubt Coles shareholders will be all too keen to see these predictions come true, but we shall have to wait and see what the next 12 months hold in store for Coles shares.

At the current Coles share price, this company has a market capitalisation of $21.9 billion with a dividend yield of 3.72%.

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 owns and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET. 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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