National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) shares are a popular option for investors.
As one of Australia's big four banks, the company's shares feature in countless portfolios across the country.
And even if you don't own shares directly in your ASX share portfolio, there's a high probability that you own them indirectly via your superannuation fund.
In light of this, the performance of NAB's shares can have a major impact on the wealth of the nation.
But has that impact been positive over the past 12 months? Let's see what a $5,000 investment in the bank's shares this time last year would be now worth.
$5,000 invested in NAB shares a year ago
One year ago, investors were able to pick up the bank's shares for $31.93 each.
This means that with a $5,000 investment (plus an additional $13.01 for good measure), you would have been able to snap up 157 shares.
The good news is that since then, it has been onwards and upwards for NAB and the rest of the big four banks.
Investors have been buying the big banks amid optimism that the industry has survived the rate hike cycle unscathed and with minimal impact to bad debts. In addition, better than expected results in FY 2024 gave their shares a boost.
This ultimately means that NAB shares are now currently trading notably higher than a year ago at $39.26.
This means that your 157 units would now have a market value of $6,163.82. That's approximately $1,150 more than you started with and represents an impressive 12-month return of 23.4%, which is almost double the market return over the same period.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has risen 12.2% since this time last year.
Don't forget the dividends!
It is also worth remembering that NAB is among the most generous dividend payers on the Australian share market.
In FY 2024, the company achieved cash earnings per share of 227 cents and decided to pay out 73% of this to its lucky shareholders.
NAB paid shareholders total fully franked dividends of 169 cents per share for the year. This means that your 157 units would have received dividend income of $265.33.
If we add this to the capital gains, a $5,013.01 investment 12 months ago would have turned into a total of $6,429.15 with dividends reinvested.
That's a total annual return of $1,416.14 or 28.2%. Not bad if you ask me!
