New extension to Piazza Affari for Intesa Sanpaolo. At the end, the stock of the largest Italian bank recorded + 2.56% to 2.545 euros, consolidating the position of best performer of the Ftse Mib since the beginning of the year with over + 11%. Intesa has returned to its highest levels since 15 October when the stock had pushed up to area 2.575 which corresponds with the closing top of the last 3 and a half years.
More profits and dividends, generous buyback possible too
The expectation of investors for the new business plan coming in a month. Analysts are also looking at the new plan and last week BofA confirmed the buy on Intesa Sanpaolo indicated as the top bank pick in Europe. The target price indicated by BofA went from 3 to 3.3 euros. The analysts of the US bank have revised up the EPS and dividend estimates. In particular, the dividend for 2022 is now expected at € 0.19 per share, almost 25% more than the € 0.16 indicated above. According to BofA, the new plan should confirm the dividend policy with payout at 70% and the introduction of a generous buyback plan cannot be excluded.
Intesa in 2021 distributed a triple coupon: in addition to the classic spring one, on 20 October the bank led by Carlo Messina sold 0.0996 euros per share and on 22 November another 0.0721 euros as down payment for 2022.
Among the analysts monitored by Bloomberg, the positive opinions on Intesa prevail: 67.7% say buy, 32.3% are hold, while no analyst is sell on the stock. The 12-month average target price is € 2.84, which is over 11% above current levels.
In recent days, the name of Intesa had also sprung up from an M&A perspective. The Swiss finance site Inside Paradeplatz hinted at some rumors circulating on the market, relating to the alleged desire for M&A of the president of Credit Suisse, Antonio Horta-Osorio, who would look to both Italy and France to find a potential partner for the giant Swiss banking. In Italy, Horta-Osorio’s attention would have focused on one between UniCredit and Intesa SanPaolo.
Just last month the CEO of Intesa, Carlo Messina, pointed out that “there is a problem of the size of European banks, whose aggregate stock market value does not make up that of Jp Morgan alone”.
With regard to the cornerstones of the new plan, Messina has expressed the intention of increase investments in wealth management. Digital will be another target that the bank will aim for. “The digital element will lead to a reduction in retail branches”, given that “fewer families come to the branch”, “we will identify decent solutions for people who can be involved in the generation of bank value”. So nothing goes out on the agenda.