GQG Partners, run by NRI investor Rajiv Jain, has increased its holding from 1.29% in the December quarter to 1.44% at the end of March quarter.
GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund currently holds 17,87,71,863 shares in the company, adding 19.17 lakh additional shares in the fourth quarter, according to the latest shareholding data available with the exchanges.
Among the public shareholders, mutual funds have a combined stake of 9.47% in the diversified conglomerate, while insurance companies own about 20.44%.
While the foreign investors holding is at 14.21%, retail investors own about 12.42% in the company, as of March quarter.
On Monday, the shares of cigarette-to-hotels conglomerate breached Rs 400-mark for the first time and hit a fresh all-time high before ending the day 1.09% higher at Rs 399.90 on NSE.
ITC’s scrip has been an outperformer among the Nifty pack with nearly 20% gain this year. In comparison, benchmark Nifty has delivered a flattish return negative 0.68%. The stock has almost doubled in the last two years.The stock has moved in the range of Rs 318 to Rs 356 levels from September 2022 to January with volumes being quite low during this period. The price breached the consolidation phase at 356 and moved upwards with high volumes to make an all-time high of 394 odd levels.
“Investors can buy the stock from the current levels and more on dips of Rs 382 for a target price of Rs 450-490 in the next six to eight months, according to Chheda. The stop loss can be kept at Rs 365 on a weekly closing basis,” said Viral Chheda, Technical Analyst, SAJ Finance & Securities.
The sustained rally in ITC can be attributed to its resilient performance in the past few quarters, despite an uncertain demand environment and sustained inflationary pressures on margins. Despite the rally, the stock is sitting with attractive valuations at 23x/21x its FY2024/FY2025E EPS.
Brokerage JM Financial, meanwhile, has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 440.
“We continue to expect that the government’s increasingly logical stance on tobacco taxation remains a key value-driver for the ITC stock, and there is increasing evidence of the policy environment in recent years being quite supportive,” it said.
Sharekhan too has a Buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 450, which shows an upside potential of 12.5% from the current levels.
In the recent December quarter, ITC posted a net profit of Rs 5,031 crore, up 21% year-on-year, while revenue from operations, net of excise duty, rose 2% YoY to Rs 16,226 crore.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
