Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares closed 0.55% lower on Tuesday afternoon at $38.03 a piece. Over the past month the shares have tumbled 3.77%, but they're still 15.7% higher than this time last year.
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So if I bought $5,000 of Westpac shares in January, what would it be worth now?
Westpac was the second-highest performing big 4 bank this year, behind Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). Westpac shares are currently trading 17.34% higher than the 2nd of January 2025. This means that $5,000 invested on the first day the ASX opened in January this year would now be worth a total of $5,867.
What happened to Westpac shares this year?
Westpac shares jumped 15% after it released a positive third quarter update in mid-August, and the share price remained relatively stable until it posted an unexciting full year FY25 result in early November.
The latest full-year update, where the bank reported a 1% decline in its net profit after tax, and after excluding notable items, net profit reduced by 2% year-over-year, caused a 5% share price slump.
It wasn't all bad though. The banking giant was able to hike its full-year dividend to $1.53 per share, representing an increase of 2 cents per share.
What's ahead for the banking giant in 2026?
Unfortunately, analysts consensus is that the buying opportunity for Westpac shares has now passed, with a decent downside tipped for the big 4 major over the next 12 months.
According to TradingView data, out of 16 analysts, 9 have a sell or strong sell rating on Westpac shares. The remaining 7 have a hold rating on the stock.
The average target for the share price over the next 12 months is $33.34, but some analysts expect this could drop as low as $23.03 by this time next year. That implies a potential downside as big as 39.44% for investors in 2026, at the time of writing.
The team at Macquarie think the ASX bank stock will slump further next year. The broker has an underperform rating on the stock and a target price of $31. This implies a potential 18.5% downside at the time of writing. The bank is expected to have limited growth over the coming years.
Morgans analysts are also bearish on Westpac shares. The broker has advised investors who are overweight on the bank stock to sell up following the ASX 200 bank share's strong gains this year.
