The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price has been on an upward trend over the last few weeks, as the chart below shows. But, that's not the end of the story – analysts have given their view on what could happen next with the ASX bank share.
Westpac shares rose by more than 10% in August following a positive investor response to its quarterly update. Investors may be wondering what's going to happen next. Experts have given their projections on where the Westpac share price could go by 2026.
Broker price target on the Westpac share price
A price target is where the broker thinks the share price will be in 12 months from the time of the investment call.
Analysts from the broker UBS have a price target of $36 for the Westpac share price. That target price implies a possible decline of 7% from where it is today.
The broker said, after seeing the latest quarterly update, that after backing out implied FY25 fourth quarter expectations, Westpac would need to generate around $1.4 billion of earnings in the fourth quarter of FY25 to meet market expectations. That compares to an average of $1.7 billion that has been delivered in the financial year to date.
UBS suggested analysts would upgrade their expectations by between approximately 3% to 6%.
The broker also said that momentum and delivery appear "on track" under the new management team.
UBS noted that the net interest margin (NIM) – a profitability measure of how much it's making on its lending – improved 5 basis points (0.05%) quarter-over-quarter. The analysts also said that, similar to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac appears to have had a strong trading income performance in the three months to June 2025.
The broker said that overall revenue is trading ahead of analyst expectations, though cost growth is occurring "as expected, with project UNITE underway" to lower costs.
UBS concluded its analysis on the ASX bank share with the following:
The bank has called out strong growth in business & institutional banking, which is a continuation of the trend seen in 1H 25. The consumer division, is still a work in progress, focused on improving returns and customer experience. Bad debts are well controlled and below consensus.
ASX bank share valuation
Using the profit forecasts from UBS, the Westpac share price is currently valued at more than 18x FY26's estimated earnings. Time will tell whether the bank is able to continue rising from here, but it may not be the best ASX share to look at right now, according to the UBS price target.
