Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares are shaking off the wider market malaise today and marching higher.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank stock closed yesterday trading for $174.11. In early afternoon trade on Wednesday, shares are changing hands for $176.26 apiece, up 1.3%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 0.7%.
Today's outperformance is par for the course for Australia's biggest bank over the last year.
Although CBA shares are well down from their all-time closing high of $191.40, posted on 25 June, shares remain up 22.9% since this time last year, racing ahead of the 7.5% 12-month gains posted by the benchmark index.
And that doesn't include the two fully franked dividends, totalling $4.85 a share, that CBA delivered to eligible stockholders over the year. This sees the ASX 200 bank stock trading on a fully franked trailing dividend yield of 2.8%.
Looking ahead, however, Sanlam Private Wealth's Remo Greco believes headwinds are building (courtesy of The Bull).
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Time to sell CBA shares?
"The CBA share price is off its 2025 highs above $191. This was despite the bank reporting a clean set of 2025 financial year results in August," said Greco, who has a sell recommendation on the CBA shares.
"In our view, the share price rise was driven by index positioning rather than the prospect of strong financial results," he added. "Statutory net profit after tax of $10.133 billion in full year 2025 was up 7% on the prior corresponding period. The shares were trading at $171.05 on October 30. "
Indeed, CBA is the largest stock trading on the ASX, taking that title from BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) in July last year.
Even with the share price down 8% from the 25 June all-time closing high, CBA still commands a market cap of almost $296 billion. And as the stock increased in value, its index weighting grew too. Meaning more index tracking funds needed to buy CBA shares to keep aligned with their relative indexes.
Greco also isn't overly impressed with the passive income on offer.
"The bank was recently trading on a modest dividend yield below 3%," he noted.
That's despite CBA's full-year dividend payout ratio in FY 2025 coming out to 79% of cash net profit after tax, at the higher end of the bank's targeted payout range.
"CBA is a solid performer, but, in our view, capital growth appears limited. Other stocks appeal more for potential capital growth and dividend yield," Greco concluded.
