Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares are a popular option for Aussie investors.
You only need to look at its share registry to see that.
According to its annual report, Australia's largest bank has over 800,000 shareholders.
And even if you don't own CBA shares directly, there's a high probability that you have exposure to the bank through your superannuation fund.
In light of this, it isn't far-fetched to say that the performance of the CBA share price has a major impact on the wealth of the nation.
But has that impact been positive or negative in 2025? Let's see what $5,000 invested in its shares at the start of the year would be worth now.
$5,000 invested in CBA shares
At the end of 2024, the CBA share price was fetching $153.25.
This means that with $5,000 (and an extra $57.25 for good measure), investors could have picked up a total of 33 shares.
Was this a good idea? Let's find out.
Well, it certainly was a good idea for the first half of the year. In late June, CBA's shares hit a record high of $192.00.
At that point, those shares would have had a market value of $6,336. This is almost $1,300 greater than the original investment.
But unfortunately, the second half of the year wasn't anywhere near as positive after concerns over the bank's valuation and modest growth outlook finally caught up with its shares.
On Friday, the company's share price ended the week at $155.96. This is down almost 19% from its June high.
It is also only modestly ahead of the price that investors would have paid at the end of 2024, giving those 33 shares a market value of $5,146.68.
Don't forget the dividends
Though, it is worth remembering that the bank has paid two fully franked dividends over the period. In March, CBA rewarded shareholders with a $2.25 per share interim dividend. It then followed this up with a fully franked $2.60 per share final dividend in September.
This means that those 33 CBA shares would have pulled in dividend income of $160.05 over the 12 months.
If we assume that those dividends were reinvested, an investor's shareholding would now be worth a total of $5,306.73.
That's a total return of 4.9% for investors or approximately $250.00. Not the best, but certainly not the worst in a volatile market.
