ANZ Group Holdings (ASX: ANZ) on 1 December 2025: Share Price, Dividend, ESG Shake‑Up and AGM Pay Showdown

As of Monday, 1 December 2025, ANZ Group Holdings Limited (ASX: ANZ) is trading slightly lower after a strong year, with investors weighing a juicy dividend, an aggressive cost‑cutting program, a bruising regulatory clean‑up and a looming governance fight over executive pay.

This article pulls together the latest news, forecasts and analysis current as at 1 December 2025, from sources including Reuters, Bloomberg, TS2Tech, Rask, Capital Brief, MarketScreener and others. StockInvest+4TechStock²+4ANZ+4

ANZ share price today (1 December 2025)

Market data from Google Finance and other quote services show ANZ trading around A$34.2 per share in early afternoon trade on Monday, down roughly 1–1.2% from Friday’s close of A$34.64. The stock has moved in a day range of about A$34.2–A$34.5, versus a 52‑week range of roughly A$26.2–A$38.9. ^[1]

Those prices put ANZ on approximately:

Market capitalisation: ~A$102–103 billion
Trailing price/earnings (P/E): ~17–18x based on recent quote pages
Forward P/E: around 13–14x, according to broker and FNArena data collated in recent analysis TechStock²+1
Dividend yield: about 4.7–4.9%, depending on which price snapshot you use and whether you look at trailing 12 months or FY25 declared dividends ^[2]

Despite the modest pull‑back from mid‑November’s record high near A$38.90, ANZ remains up more than 20% year‑to‑date in 2025, and around 10–11% over the past 12 months, making it one of the better‑performing big‑four bank stocks on the ASX this year. TechStock²+1

FY25 earnings: profit down, underlying franchise stable

The current share price debate is anchored in ANZ’s full‑year FY25 result (year ended 30 September 2025), released on 10 November. ^[3]

Key numbers from ANZ’s own result release and subsequent coverage: ^[4]

Statutory profit: A$5.89 billion, down ~10% year‑on‑year
Cash profit: ~A$5.79 billion, down ~14%
Underlying cash profit (excluding “significant items”): ~A$6.9 billion, roughly flat versus FY24
Revenue: up about 7% to ~A$22.2 billion
Operating expenses: up ~11% to ~A$11.8 billion, driven mainly by restructuring, remediation and integration costs
Net interest margin (NIM): around 1.55%, reflecting margin pressure in mortgages and stiff competition ^[5]
Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio: about 12.0–12.3% on a pro‑forma basis, comfortably above regulatory minimums ^[6]

Why the big gap between underlying and reported earnings? ANZ booked roughly A$1.11 billion after tax in “significant items”, including: TechStock²+2Reuters+2

Large restructuring and redundancy costs as the bank moves to cut about 3,500 jobs (plus 1,000 contractors) over the next year
A record A$240 million penalty from ASIC for widespread misconduct, including issues around a A$14 billion government bond issue and failures in customer remediation
Winding down the Cashrewards business and impairments on its Indonesian banking stake

Reuters summed up the result as a “messy” but not catastrophic reset: underlying lending and deposit franchises remain intact, but margins are squeezed and the clean‑up bill is high. ^[7]

ANZ 2030 strategy: cost cuts, Suncorp integration and higher ROE targets

Alongside the FY25 numbers, new CEO Nuno Matos has put a big strategic bet on the table under the banner “ANZ 2030”. Recent investor commentary and TS2Tech analysis outline the main planks: TechStock²+2TechStock²+2

Cost‑out: Targeting around A$800 million of pre‑tax cost savings in the current year, largely via headcount reductions, project rationalisation and simplification
Job cuts: About 3,500 roles to go, plus 1,000 contractors, reducing duplication and complexity while trying to protect front‑line customer roles ^[8]
Buyback paused: Cancellation of the remaining ~A$800 million of a previously announced A$2 billion share buyback, with capital redirected toward restructuring, technology and the Suncorp Bank integration TechStock²+1
Suncorp Bank synergies: Expected annual synergy target doubled to about A$500 million once fully integrated by mid‑2027 TechStock²+1
Return on tangible equity (ROTE): Ambition to lift ROTE from roughly 10% today to ~12% by 2028 and ~13% by 2030 TechStock²+1

In plain English: ANZ is trying to trade short‑term pain (job losses, restructuring costs, fines) for long‑term gains (higher efficiency, better technology, stronger returns). Investors are now judging whether the bank can execute all that while regulators, politicians and staff watch closely.

Dividend and yield: 83c final payout and a near‑5% cash yield

Despite the hit to reported profit, ANZ’s board chose to hold the dividend flat. For FY25, ANZ declared: ^[9]

Final dividend:83 cents per share, 70% franked
Total FY25 dividend:166 cents per share, unchanged from FY24
Ex‑dividend date: 13 November 2025
Record date: 14 November 2025
Payment date: 19 December 2025

Based on a share price in the mid‑A$34s, that equates to a trailing cash yield just under 5%, before the value of franking credits. ^[10]

Dividend‑focused commentary from outlets such as The Motley Fool notes that a hypothetical A$20,000 position in ANZ shares would generate around A$1,200 a year in cash dividends at current payout levels, again before franking. TechStock²+1

ANZ has also flagged a 1.5% discount on its DRP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) for at least two rounds and does not intend to fully neutralise this via buybacks, effectively using the DRP to gently raise capital while keeping the dividend headline strong. TechStock²+1

Governance flashpoint: Glass Lewis urges vote against ANZ’s pay report

The biggest new development on 1 December is not a number but a proxy adviser broadside.

Bloomberg reports that influential proxy adviser Glass Lewis is urging ANZ investors to vote against the bank’s 2025 remuneration report at the AGM later this month, arguing that executive pay outcomes are hard to square with the bank’s regulatory scandals, fines and cultural problems. ^[11]

Why is that a big deal?

At ANZ’s 2024 AGM, about 38% of votes were cast against the remuneration report, constituting a “first strike” under Australia’s two‑strikes rule. ^[12]
Under that rule, if 25% or more of shareholders again vote against the pay report in 2025, ANZ will suffer a second strike, forcing a follow‑up “spill resolution” where investors vote on whether to require all directors to stand for re‑election. ^[13]

ANZ’s official AGM notice, released in mid‑November, already warns investors about this possibility and includes a conditional spill resolution on the agenda. The board is recommending shareholders support the remuneration report and vote against the spill motion and various climate and deforestation‑related resolutions. ^[14]

Complicating the story:

The Australian Financial Review reports that ANZ executives collectively lost about A$32 million in bonuses over ASIC failings and other issues, even as board fees were left unchanged. ^[15]
Proxy and governance experts are now debating whether those pay cuts go far enough, especially in light of the A$240 million ASIC penalty and APRA’s capital add‑ons. ^[16]

In short: pay, accountability and culture are front and centre heading into the 18 December 2025 AGM. A second strike would be a serious blow to the board’s credibility.

Risk culture and regulation: “good news” culture, APRA undertaking and ASIC’s record fine

Behind the pay angst lies a deeper story about risk culture.

A court‑mandated review by McKinsey, reported by Reuters and others in mid‑November, found that ANZ suffers from a “good news culture” – a tendency to focus on positive updates while discouraging staff from escalating bad news. The review also flagged: ^[17]

Excess bureaucracy and overlapping responsibilities that dilute accountability
A reluctance to challenge or “speak up”
Siloed working practices that impede effective non‑financial risk management

Regulators have responded forcefully:

In April 2025, APRA imposed a Court Enforceable Undertaking (CEU) on ANZ and increased its capital add‑on to A$1 billion to reflect persistent weaknesses in non‑financial risk management. ^[18]
In September 2025, ASIC announced the A$240 million penalty for widespread misconduct affecting around 65,000 customers and the federal government – the largest corporate penalty in Australian history. ^[19]

ANZ’s own “Root Cause Analysis” summary, published in late November, acknowledges these cultural issues explicitly, including the “good news culture” and reluctance to challenge senior decision‑makers. ^[20]

CEO Nuno Matos told lawmakers in a recent hearing that ANZ is “too complex” and burdened with duplication, and that cultural change is now one of his core priorities. Reuters notes that ANZ has already replaced several senior executives and announced thousands of job cuts as part of this transformation. ^[21]

For investors, the message is clear: ANZ is financially solid, but its regulatory and cultural overhang is not going away quickly – and that can feed into capital requirements, costs and how much of a risk premium the market demands.

Fresh ESG twist: ANZ cuts climate and ESG roles

Just to add a bit more spice to the governance stew, 1 December 2025 brought another headline: ANZ is trimming its ESG and climate teams.

Capital Brief reports that: ^[22]

ANZ will axe several ESG and communications roles as part of Matos’ restructure.
Gerard Brown, a 30‑year ANZ veteran and the bank’s most prominent climate lead, is leaving the organisation.
These moves are being interpreted internally as a signal that ANZ is reshaping – and possibly de‑prioritising – some of its sustainability infrastructure, even as it faces ESG resolutions at the AGM and intense scrutiny over fossil‑fuel and deforestation‑linked lending.

At the same time, ANZ is highlighting positive community initiatives, such as a new financial education partnership with the Dylan Alcott Foundation to deliver MoneyMinded workshops tailored for Australians living with disability. ^[23]

This combination – cutting climate roles while promoting social‑impact programs – is likely to be closely scrutinised by ESG‑focused investors over the coming weeks.

Dividend profile vs regulatory overhang: how analysts are framing ANZ

Broker and consensus views

Across brokers and data aggregators, the current consensus on ANZ can be summarised roughly as “solid yield, limited near‑term upside, meaningful execution risk.”

Recent data points:

FNArena’s consolidated broker data (as reflected in TS2Tech’s late‑November wrap) shows a consensus 12‑month target price around A$33.5, implying low‑single‑digit downside from Friday’s A$34.64 close. TechStock²+1
Consensus forecasts point to essentially flat dividends, with DPS of about A$1.66 in FY25 and ~A$1.67 in FY26, keeping the forward yield near 4.8–5% at current prices. TechStock²+1

Morgan Stanley currently rates ANZ “Equal‑weight” with a target price of around A$34, noting that the bank’s strategy offers significant cost‑saving potential but that the stock is already trading above their valuation. ^[24]

Other notable signals:

MarketScreener and FNArena summaries show Jarden recently lifting its ANZ target to around A$35 while maintaining an overweight stance, citing strong capital and the potential for the ANZ 2030 plan to drive better returns if executed well. ^[25]
UBS and several peers tilt more cautious, with some Sell or Underweight ratings based on concerns that higher costs, regulatory risk and a paused buyback cap upside from here. ^[26]

Valuation‑driven analysis (Rask, Motley Fool, others)

A fresh Rask Media piece titled “Are ANZ shares good value? 2 ways to value them” (30 November 2025) walks through both earnings‑based and dividend‑based valuation frameworks and broadly concludes that ANZ looks close to “fair value” around the mid‑A$30s: not screamingly cheap, but not obviously expensive for a big‑four bank with a strong capital position and almost 5% yield. ^[27]

Rask and other commentators emphasise that headline ratios like P/E and dividend yield must be read alongside:

Prospects for earnings growth (or lack thereof)
Sustainability of the dividend under higher capital and compliance costs
The scale and timing of cost‑out benefits from job cuts and Suncorp synergies
Ongoing regulatory and cultural risks

Motley Fool Australia, meanwhile, continues to pitch ANZ as a dividend and income story, noting its strong run in 2025 but warning that most of the easy re‑rating might already be behind it. TechStock²+1

Quant and technical forecasts

On the more quantitative side:

Technical analysis site StockInvest recently upgraded ANZ (ANZ.AX) from “Sell” to “Hold/Accumulate” after the 28 November session, even though the share price fell 1.25% that day from A$35.08 to A$34.64. ^[28]
- Their model suggests that, given current trends, ANZ could rise about 12% over the next three months, with a 90% probability of ending that period somewhere between roughly A$38.9 and A$44.5.
- They also highlight nearby support around A$33.2 and resistance near A$35.9–A$37, and classify ANZ as a “hold candidate” rather than a clear buy. ^[29]
Another forecasting site, AUDToday, has updated short‑term price projections using ANZ’s recent close of A$34.64, with near‑term daily forecasts generally in the A$31.5–A$37 band and a longer‑term mechanical trend pointing into the mid‑A$40s to mid‑A$50s by 2027 – all based purely on historical price patterns rather than fundamentals. TechStock²
Analyst‑consensus aggregators like TipRanks and TradingView cluster around an average 12‑month target of roughly A$34–A$35, with high estimates around A$40–A$40.5 and lows near A$29–A$30, reinforcing the theme of modest upside/downside rather than a strongly directional call. ^[30]

These quantitative models are useful as temperature checks, not crystal balls. They generally agree that after a big run in 2025, ANZ is now in a consolidation zone, with future direction heavily dependent on execution and news flow.

How ANZ stacks up against other big‑four banks

Comparative analysis from Morningstar and others points out that: ^[31]

ANZ has less exposure to Australian home loans than Commonwealth Bank or Westpac, but more to institutional and New Zealand banking, which can cut both ways: more diversification, but also more complexity.
Morningstar expects ANZ to continue losing some market share in FY26 as it cleans up its operations, before returning closer to system growth rates by FY27 if its digital and process improvements pay off. ^[32]
On valuation metrics (P/E, price‑to‑book, dividend yield), ANZ generally sits middle of the pack: cheaper than the market darling CBA, but no longer at a steep discount to peers after this year’s rally. TechStock²+1

In other words, ANZ is now less of a deep value play and more of a “show me” story: investors are paying a fair price for a big yield and solid capital, but they’re watching execution and culture closely.

Key catalysts to watch after 1 December 2025

Pulling the threads together, here are the main catalysts that could move ANZ’s share price from here:

2025 AGM – 18 December 2025
- Outcome of the remuneration report vote (does ANZ get a second strike?).
- Results of climate, deforestation and governance resolutions and how the board responds. ^[33]
Dividend payment – 19 December 2025
- Investor appetite for the DRP at a 1.5% discount, and any fresh commentary on capital management. ^[34]
Progress on ANZ 2030 and cost‑out
- Evidence that the A$800m cost savings and A$500m Suncorp synergies are being delivered without operational or service‑quality blow‑ups. TechStock²+1
Regulatory updates from APRA and ASIC
- Any changes to APRA’s capital add‑on, or further enforcement actions, will directly affect both earnings and the bank’s risk premium. ^[35]
Further culture and ESG developments
- Reaction to ESG and climate team cuts, the appointment of Christine Palmer as Group Chief Risk Officer from 1 December, and the broader risk‑governance overhaul. ^[36]
Macro environment and rate expectations
- Like all banks, ANZ remains highly sensitive to RBA policy, housing credit growth, unemployment and global risk appetite. TechStock²+1

Bottom line: high‑yield bank with a governance storm on the horizon

As of 1 December 2025, ANZ Group Holdings presents a strikingly mixed picture:

Pros for investors:
- Near‑5% dividend yield, partly franked, with a flat payout maintained despite a tough year
- Strong capital and a core franchise spanning institutional banking, New Zealand and Australian retail
- A bold transformation plan that could unlock better returns if executed well
Cons and risks:
- Headline profit hit by huge restructuring and regulatory costs
- A court‑enforceable undertaking, record ASIC penalty and damning culture reviews, all still playing out
- A proxy adviser‑fuelled pay revolt that could trigger a second strike at the AGM and potentially a spill vote
- Internal unease as thousands of jobs and now ESG/climate roles are cut in the name of efficiency

The market’s current verdict – judging by the mid‑teens earnings multiple, mid‑A$30s share price and modest downside implied by consensus targets – is basically: