The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) ended up having a pretty wild month over April. Over the month just gone, the ASX 200 got fairly close to breaking its all-time high before retreating towards the end of the month. In the end, the index gave investors a loss of 0.86% over the month just gone. But let's see how the Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price went.
As the largest consumer staples share on the ASX 200, many investors have an expectation of 'safety' for Woolworths shares. So it will be interesting to see how this grocery giant lived up to this reputation.
So Woolies started April at a share price of $37.26. By the end of the month, the Woolworths share price had grown to $38.51. That's a gain of 3.35%, a very healthy outperformance of the broader market. And that's not including the interim dividend investors received last month either. Woolies paid out its dividend of 39 cents per share, fully franked, on 13 April. This would have added another couple of percentage points to shareholders' April returns too.
All in all, a relatively pleasing month for the Woolworths share price, you'd have to conclude.
Is the Woolworths share price a buy or a sell in May?
So now that April is under the old belt, and we're now in May, many investors might be wondering if the Woolworths share price is a buy today.
Well, let's see what one ASX broker reckons.
As my Fool colleague James covered just yesterday, broker Goldman Sachs is currently bullish on Woolies shares. This ASX broke currently rates Woolworths as a buy, with a 12-month share price target of $41.70. That would imply a further upside of almost 10% on current pricing over the next year.
Goldman was impressed with Woolworths' latest quarterly update, which saw the company report year-on-year sales growth of 9.7%. The broker also noted that Woolies "gained market share both from value and volume perspective during the quarter". Goldman is also anticipating that Woolworths will lift its dividends in FY2023 as well to $1.18 per share.
So more good news to come for Woolies if Goldman Sachs is to be believed.
At the current Woolworths share price, this ASX 200 blue-chip has a market capitalisation of $46.14 billion, with a dividend yield of 2.47%
