After an enthusiastic start to trading this morning, this Thursday has turned negative for ASX shares. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is deep into red territory, down 0.34% at just over 8,170 points. But let's talk about what's going on with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) share price.
Bendigo Bank shares are doing even worse than the broader market today. The ASX 200 bank stock closed at $12.41 a share yesterday afternoon. This morning, those same shares opened at $12.46 but soon fell as low as $12.17, a drop of more than 2% at the time. At present, Bendigo Bank has recovered slightly but remains down 1.37% at $12.24 a share.
So, what's going on with Bendigo Bank shares today?
Why has the Bendogo Bank share price tanked this Thursday?
Well, there's no obvious answer. But we can point to a couple of potential catalysts here.
To start things off, Bendigo Bank is holding its annual general meeting (AGM) today. The company released the transcripts of its chair and CEO speeches this morning.
There wasn't much fresh news in these addresses. However, some comments from the chair and CEO may be spooking investors today.
Firstly, Bendigo Bank chair Vicki Carter stated the following:
Your Board remains mindful of the need to strike a balance between providing shareholders with an appropriate return on their investment and the need to maintain a solid capital position during a period of economic uncertainty.
An ASX bank share chair discussing future "economic uncertainty" is never going to inspire too much confidence in investors, so this could be at play here.
Bendigo Bank CEO Richard Fennell also touched on bank branches in his speech:
We remain committed to our branch network, the fourth largest in Australia and the largest per customer of any Australian bank. Our branches are important to us, and to our customers, and we value the face-to-face interactions that occur between our customers and our team members throughout this network.
Bank branches may be popular with customers, but not so much with shareholders, given the ongoing costs of running them. Perhaps investors had been hoping that Bendogo Bank would follow the lead of some of the other banks and reduce their branch numbers. As such, this could also be weighing on investors' minds today.
A bad day for ASX 200 bank shares
These aren't the only factors that could be influencing the Bendigo Bank share price today though.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares are also having a rough one. This big four bank is currently nursing a horrid 3.3% loss and is down to $31.19 a share. This shouldn't be too concerning for investors though, as today is Westpac's ex-dividend date for its final dividend of 2024. But it still could be weighing on investors' appetite for bank stocks.
Another big development worth noting is the latest earnings from Westpac's big four stablemate, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB). NAB reported its full-year earnings this morning for the 2024 financial year, and investors were not impressed.
As we covered, NAB revealed a 2% drop in revenues for FY2024 to $20.65 billion, which drove a 6.1% fall in the bank's statutory net profits to $6.96 billion. Even though NAB still managed to increase its final dividend by 1 cent to 75 cents per share (fully franked of course), investors are still punishing the bank. At present, NAB shares have tanked 2.83% down to $38.14 each.
So, all of this might also be keeping investors away from Bendigo Bank. Let's see how this ASX 200 bank stock ends the trading week tomorrow.
