Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) shares are pushing higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) wealth management and technology company closed down 0.6% yesterday trading for $35.79. In morning trade on Friday, shares are up 0.2%, changing hands for $35.87 apiece.
Netwealth stock edged lower yesterday despite the company reporting strong growth metrics over the 2025 financial year (FY 2025).
With Netwealth shares up 61.8% since the recent closing lows of $22.17 on 7 April, expectations are clearly running high. Indeed, following that strong run higher, Netwealth now trades on a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of around 89 times.
A value Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) flagged as "demanding".
We'll look at Macquarie's latest price forecast for the ASX 200 financial stock below.
But first…
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What's been happening with Netwealth shares?
Netwealth shares slipped yesterday despite the company reporting a 27.1% year on year increase in total income up to $324.4 million.
Funds under administration (FUA) net flows of $15.8 billion were up 40.4% from FY 2024, resulting in total FUA of $112.8 billion at 30 June, up 28.2%.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 31.1% to $163.5 million. And net profit after tax (NPAT) of $116.5 million was up 39.8% from FY 2024.
On the back of this strong growth, management declared a final fully franked dividend of 21 cents per share, up 33.3% from last year's final dividend.
If you want to bank that passive income payout, you'll need to own Netwealth shares at market close on 2 September. The ASX 200 stock trades ex-dividend on 3 September.
Looking to the financial year ahead, the company said it expects FUA net flows in line with FY 2025, with operating expense growth also similar to FY 2025.
Management said:
Netwealth has commenced FY26 maintaining strong FUA net flows momentum. Total FUA as at 18 August 2025 was $118.5B.
Building on our strong FY25 performance and opportunity pipeline, we will continue with our initiatives to invest in our people, product innovation, security infrastructure and technology capabilities.
What is Macquarie's verdict on the full year results?
In a new report on Netwealth shares, released on Thursday, Macquarie noted the strong start to the company's FY 2026 flows.
However, the broker cautioned that lower administration fees could weigh on earnings due to the impact of fee tiers and caps.
And then there's the already resilient share price.
Macquarie said that "despite a robust outlook", it was retaining its neutral outlook for the ASX 200 financial stock, given a demanding PE multiple relative to ~16% EPS CAGR [earnings per share compound annual growth] over FY25-FY30" estimates.
The broker lifted its price target for Netwealth shares by 1.5% to $33.85 (from $33.35).
