The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price was a strong performer on Thursday.
The banking giant's shares rose 4.5% to finish the day at $29.67 after the market responded very positively to its first quarter update.
This leaves the NAB share price trading within sight of its 52-week high of $30.30.
Can the NAB share price keep rising?
The good news for shareholders is that a couple of leading brokers believe the NAB share price can keep rising to a new high.
According to a note out of Bell Potter, its analysts have retained their buy rating and lifted their price target on the bank's shares to $32.50.
Based on the current NAB share price, this implies potential upside of 9.5% over the next 12 months. In addition, the broker is forecasting a 4.3% dividend yield over the period, which brings the total potential return on offer to almost 14%.
Who else is positive?
Another broker that is positive on the NAB share price is Goldman Sachs. This morning its analysts retained their conviction buy rating and lifted their price target to $31.33.
Goldman was impressed with NAB's performance during the quarter and notes that its result was ahead of expectations.
The broker explained: "NAB's 1Q22 cash earnings from continuing operations were up 12% on the previous period average to A$1.80 bn, 6% ahead of what was implied by our previous 1H22E forecasts (stronger revenues and lower BDDs), with PPOP coming in 2% ahead. CET1 ratio of 12.4% was broadly consistent with our forecasts."
Goldman also notes that NAB remains its preferred sector exposure. This is due to its strong position in business banking, good balance sheet momentum, and the progress of its cost management initiatives. Its analysts believe that as the latter "seem further progressed relative to most of its peers, [they] have freed up investment spend to be more directed towards customer experience."
All in all, both brokers don't appear to believe it is too late to invest in NAB's shares.
