The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has enjoyed robust returns over the past year.
In fact, investors were treated with the company's full year results on 11 August, underlining growth across key metrics.
At Wednesday's market close, CBA shares finished the day up 0.88% to $101.
What's happened to CBA recently?
Investors have been bidding on the CBA share price in 2021 as the company continues to impress the market.
According to its latest scorecard, CBA achieved almost a 20% increase of statutory net profit after tax to $8,843 million. An improvement in Australia's economic conditions and outlook resulted in lower loan impairment expenses of $554 million, down 78% on FY20.
In addition, net interest margin came to 2.03%, down 4 basis points due to higher liquid assets. The impact of a low-rate environment had been largely offset by management actions, lower wholesale funding costs and favourable funding mix.
It's worth noting that CBA is conducting a $6 billion off-market share buy-back to reduce surplus capital and increase shareholder value. The capital management program will see about a 3.5% reduction of its total shares on the registry.
Basically, this means that when CBA buys back its shares, the number of shares on its registry will decrease. With a lesser amount, this effectively increases the value of each share as the revenue and profits remain the same.
Traditionally, when this occurs, a company's share price tends to rise over time.
CBA shares are just 7.3% off their all-time high of $109.03, which was reached on the day the company reported in August.
How much is CBA paying in dividends?
CBA is scheduled to pay a fully-franked dividend of $2 per share to eligible shareholders on 29 September. Coupled with the interim dividend of $1.50, the full year dividend for FY21 is $3.50 per share. This represents a 17% increase on FY20's dividend, and a payout ratio of 71% on the bank's cash earnings.
When factoring in the current CBA share price along with its full year dividend, CBA's dividend yield rises to 3.46%.
About the CBA share price
In 2021, the CBA share price gained around 20% in value for investors. However, when looking at this time last year, its shares are up roughly 50%, highlighting significant returns for a blue-chip company.
On valuation grounds, CBA is the biggest company on the ASX with a market capitalisation of approximately $179.1 billion.
