The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price outperformed its peers last month, gaining 12.3% over February.
The next best performing big bank stock was that of National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB). It gained 6.6% last month.
Meanwhile, the share prices of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ), and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) fell between 0.2% and 1.9%.
As of the end of the month, the Westpac share price was $22.81.
Let's take a look at what drove it to outperform its peers last month.
Why did the Westpac share price outperform in February?
The Westpac share price roared higher than its peers' last month, likely helped along by the bank's $3.5 billion off-market share buyback.
Its stock surged 4.8% the same day it released a non-price sensitive update on the completion of the buyback. However, being non-price sensitive, it's hard to say if the buyback's completion boosted the bank's share price.
As part of the buyback, Westpac paid participating investors $20.90 per share, comprising an $11.34 capital component and a $9.56 dividend.
As The Motley Fool Australia's James Mickleboro reported, that gave investors' payout a tax value of $24.14 per share.
The buyback reduced Westpac's outstanding shares by 4.6%.
The release of Westpac's results for the 3 months ended 31 December likely also helped its performance last month. Over the quarter, the bank received $1.58 billion of earnings – a 74% increase.
The Westpac share price surged 2.2% the day its results were released.
Finally, Westpac has been undergoing a cost-cutting campaign this month. It plans to shave a potentially ambitious $8 billion off its costs by 2024.
Last month it announced it will soon wave goodbye to both David Stephen – its group chief risk officer – and Les Vance – its group executive, financial crime, compliance, and conduct.
Stephen and Vance's respective roles will be joined to become the group chief risk officer position.
It might prove to be one of many role consolidations Westpac undergoes as it works to reduce the size of its corporate functions by around 20%.
Additionally, as The Motley Fool Australia's Monica O'Shea recently reported, Westpac is rumoured to be cutting a fifth of positions in its market department – impacting 90 jobs.
