SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, RIL: MFs upped stakes in 9 of top 10 holdings in January. Should you buy?

By admin On Feb 17, 2023

Mutual funds bought additional stakes in nine of their top 10 holdings in January. The list includes ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Reliance Industries and State Bank of India (SBI) among others. The only top stock where they cut stakes was Larsen & Toubro, data compiled from PRIME Database suggested. Mutual had investments worth nearly Rs 8 lakh crore in these 10 shares, accounting for 1.89 per cent to 6.89 per cent of ownership in the bluest of blue chips. If one goes by analyst estimates the 10 stocks offer 9-20 per cent upside potential.

Data showed mutual funds owned 24.03 per cent stake in ICICI Bank as on January 31 against 23.32 percent as on December 31. The value of the stake, however, stood lower at Rs 1,39,492 crore at the end of January against Rs 1,44,947 crore at the end of December. The scrip has an average target of Rs 1,084, as per publicly available data with Trendlyne, suggesting a potential 25.68 per cent upside.

In HDFC Bank, the second most-owned MF stock in value terms, the institutional category raised stake marginally in January to 15.03 per cent from 15 per cent a month ago. MF holding in the private lender amounted to Rs 1,34,434 crore compared with Rs 1,36,237 crore in the same quarter last year. The scrip has an average target of Rs 1,897, as per Trendlyne data, suggesting a potential 14.48 per cent.

MF holding jumped to 15.57 per cent in Infosys from 15.43 per cent. The Infosys stake amounted to Rs 99,769 crore against Rs 97,391 crore a month ago. Infosys’ average target suggests a potential 9 per cent upside.

In Reliance Industries, MF stake rose 25 basis points to 5.9 per cent from 5.65 per cent; in SBI, stake rose 6 basis points to 13.18 per cent from 13.12 per cent; In Axis Bank, the institutional investor raised stake by 34 basis points to 22.98 per cent from 22.64 per cent. Axis Bank’s average price target suggests a 27 per cent potential upside while Reliance Industries’ target price suggests 19 per cent potential upside.

HDFC, ITC and Bharti Airtel are other MF favourities, which saw up to 14 basis points jump in MF holding in January. HDFC’s average target suggests a 15 per cent upside, ITC’s 9 per cent and Bharti Airtel’s by 21.8 per cent.

L&T was the only stock where MFs cut stake. The domestic funds owned 17.3 per cent stake in the engineering and constuction company as on January 31, down 16 basis points from 17.46 per cent as on December 31.

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