After making a significant purchase of Rs 13,500 crore in January, mutual funds purchased further HDFC Bank Ltd shares in February for a total of Rs 8,400 crore.
After purchasing 8.83 crore shares in January, MFs purchased roughly 6.01 crore shares in February. Mutual funds had approximately 142.27 crore shares of the bank as of February 2024, up from 136.26 crore in January. However, ACE Equities data shows that during this time, the value of these shares dropped from Rs 2.15 lakh crore to Rs 2.02 lakh crore.
Thirty-four mutual funds out of the forty that invested in HDFC Bank increased their holdings in February, while five decided to reduce their positions somewhat. The whole position of 1.95 lakh shares by Quant Mutual Fund has been sold. With the largest acquisition of Rs 2,983 crore, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund was in the lead, followed by Nippon India and HDFC MF at Rs 1,043 crore and Rs 917 crore, respectively.
With Rs 51,248 crore worth of shares in HDFC Bank as of February 2014, SBI Mutual Fund is the bank's largest shareholder. Second and third place go to HDFC Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, with shares valued at Rs 23,630 crore and Rs 22,128 crore, respectively. UTI Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund are some of the other significant stakeholders.
The stock experienced a decline in January as a result of underwhelming earnings. Following the lender's Q3 results, investors voiced worries about underperformance in net interest margins (NIM), slow-than-expected retail growth, and sluggish deposit growth.
A number of brokerages increased their target prices for HDFC Bank after a recent dip. With a 44 percent upside objective of Rs 2,050 per share, Citi offered a 'buy' rating. Citi analysts predict profitable growth based on the bank's strong and sustainable business. With a target price of Rs 2,110 per share, Morgan Stanley also designated HDFC as "overweight," in response to the management's declaration of consistent double-digit annual growth in the home lending industry following the merger through December 31, 2023.
Significant purchases were made of other blue-chip companies, with sums ranging from Rs 973 crore to Rs 3753 crore, including Reliance Industries Ltd., Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharti Airtel Ltd., IndusInd Bank, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
Whirlpool of India and Kalyan Jewellers India saw purchases in the mid-cap category of about Rs 3754 crore and Rs 1936 crore, respectively. Sun Pharmaceuticals, NTPC, and Mahindra & Mahindra were prominent sellers, bringing in sales of Rs 2,283 crore, Rs 1,859 crore, and Rs 12,690 crore, respectively. Additionally, sales of Rs 1,342 crore and Rs 1,309 crore, respectively, were recorded by SBI and Interglobe Aviation.
