Question 1: Are the brokers currently recommending BHP, and what is the target price?
Answer: The major brokers are generally supportive of BHP. According to FN Arena, there are 3 “buy” recommendations and 3 “neutral” recommendations (0 “sell” recommendations).
The consensus target price is $45.91, about 5.8% higher than the last ASX price of $43.40. The range is tight, from a low of $43.00 through to a high of $48.50.
Question 2: Is there a Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) listed on the ASX that I can trade?
Answer: Yes, VanEck has the VanEck Bitcoin ETF that trades under the ASX ticker of VBTC. It is a replication style ETF that tracks the MarketVector Bitcoin Benchmark. The management fee is 0.49% pa.
The ETF was only listed on 20 June and is now around $20m in size. Liquidity is improving as the fund grows.
Question 3: I own some shares from the original Telstra float which I now want to sell but can’t find the shareholder number that I need for the broker to sell them. How can I find this out?
Answer: If you can’t locate your shareholder reference number (SRN), which is a 9 to 11 digit number starting with the letter ‘I”, you will need to contact the share registry. For Telstra, this is Link Market Services.
They will have a process for providing these numbers. There will be a fee, plus you may need to complete a statutory declaration and provide identification.
Until a couple of years’ back, most of the registries included the full shareholder reference number on correspondence such as dividend statements. So, if you have any old statements with your tax records, it might be a good idea to check these first. The number won’t have changed.
Question 4: Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is looking awfully expensive. How does its dividend yield compare to the other major banks?
Answer: Using broker forecast dividends for FY25, and the current share prices, the prospective yields are as follows: ANZ 5.7%; CBA 3.5%; NAB 4.6% and Westpac 5.4%. All should be fully franked, except ANZ, which is expected to be partially franked to around 70%.
