LIC Share Price: Insurer picks extra stakes in Hero Moto, HUL and Capri Global; stock up over 5% intraday; here is what experts opine!

LIC Share Price: After a 10-day negative haul, public-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) shares were trading positive for the second straight session on Wednesday. The stock jumped over 5 per cent to Rs 709.7 per share on the BSE intraday after the insurer raised its stakes in three firms. 

LIC has increased its stake in Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Hero MotoCorp and non-banking finance company Capri Global Capital through open market purchases over the last few months, the life insurer said on Tuesday. 

At around 01:40 PM, the shares of LIC were up over 2.5 per cent to Rs 691.75 per share on the BSE as against 0.1 per cent rise in the BSE Sensex at the same time. The counter is still down nearly 30 per cent from its issue price of Rs 949 per share at the upper band.  

Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi suggested to Hold LIC shares. Singhvi had said to Hold it for mid to long-term for better returns. Even many brokerages and analysts reiterated a similar view.  

Market analyst and TradeSwift Director Sandeep Jain said that the LIC is a domestic institutional investor (DII), which makes it a direct market participant as it earns the majority of its income through investing in indices.   

Besides, LIC is also treated as a rescue entity by the government and the company’s business gets affected, and the public sector units have been an underperformer, Jain also said. 

Emkay Global initiate coverage on LIC with a Hold rating with a target price of Rs 875 (+ 30% upside), based on 0.9x Jun’23E EV. The brokerage’s neutral view is underpinned by three factors: low VNB relative to EV; lower APE growth and margin prospects; and inherent volatility in EV. 

LIC shares earlier in May had made a weak stock debut, listing at nearly 8 per cent below its issue price. However, the stock has slumped over 18 per cent below its issue price of Rs 949 per share.  

The Rs 20,557-crore public offer (IPO of LIC was subscribed just 2.95 times. While retail investors got the allotment at Rs 905 per share, LIC’s policyholders allotted shares at Rs 889 per share.