ITC shares hit 52-week high, extend gains to fifth session in a row

Shares of ITC hit their fresh 52-week high on Thursday, sustaining a strong momentum since the announcement of its Q4FY23 earnings on May 18. The stock has rallied for five consecutive trading sessions and gained 5% during this time.

The 52-week high for this stock stands at Rs 441.75 on the NSE. The stock was trading with high volume as over six million shares on NSE were on the block at 10:25 am. The total volume on BSE and NSE stood at 9.6 million.

ITC was also one of the top gainers in the Nifty50 pack, with only Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel ahead of it in terms of advances.

The stock today surpassed the price target of Rs 440 set by BoFA after the company announced its January-March quarter earnings.

ITC shares have given returns of more than 60% over a 12-month period, outperforming Nifty50. The 50-stock index has given close to 14% returns during this period. May month’s returns stand over 7% for ITC.

Despite its ascent, the stock has been low on volatility and traded with a 1-month beta of 0.43, according to Trendlyne data.

Brokerage Nuvama has retained a ‘BUY’ on ITC with a SoTP-based target price of Rs 500.

Trendlyne puts an average target price of Rs 464 on the stock, estimating a 5% upside.

ITC, which has business interests in FMCG, hotels, agri and paper sectors, reported consolidated net profit growth of 23% year-on-year to Rs 5,175 crore for the March quarter. The same stood at Rs 4,196 crore a year ago. The revenue from operations during the reporting quarter surged 7% to Rs 19,058 crore as against Rs 17,754 crore in the year-ago period.

ITC has also announced a dividend of Rs 9.50 which is expected to be paid between August 14 and 17, the company said in its filing to the exchanges. The company declared a final dividend of Rs 6.75 per share and a special dividend of Rs 2.75 per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2023.

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