[Click eStock] "KB Geumyung, Attractive Long-Term Investment Asset... Target Price Up"

Target Price Raised from 88,000 Won to 96,000 Won

On the 21st, NH Investment & Securities raised the target price for KB Financial Group from 88,000 KRW to 96,000 KRW, viewing it as an attractive long-term investment asset with a justified number one premium. The investment rating was maintained at 'Buy.'

Jung Joon-seop, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, explained, "Reflecting KB Financial Group's number one premium, which leads among commercial banks in profit strength, capital strength, and shareholder returns, the target price discount rate was reduced from the previous 40% to 35%. The target price was calculated by applying a target price-to-book ratio (PBR) of 0.67 times to the 2024 book value per share (BPS) of 142,944 KRW."

It is evaluated as transforming into an attractive long-term investment asset regardless of the business environment. Researcher Jung said, "KB Financial Group has established a foundation for steadily increasing dividends per share (DPS) and BPS through equal quarterly dividends based on total amount and an active share repurchase and cancellation policy. This is an element that allows shareholders to expect stable cash dividends and continuous asset value growth regardless of the business environment, enabling long-term investment." He added, "The basis for announcing such shareholder return policies and gaining market trust is high profit stability and capital ratio. Among commercial financial holding companies, KB Financial Group has the best non-bank portfolio and a common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio at the top industry level (13.4%)."

KB Financial Group is expected to announce share repurchase and cancellation again in July. Researcher Jung said, "The scale of share repurchase and cancellation will be at the level announced in February this year (320 billion KRW) or higher. The total shareholder return ratio including dividends and share repurchases is expected to approach 40% this year. Although the dividend yield has slightly declined due to recent stock price increases, the total shareholder return yield including share repurchases remains attractive at 5.7%."