Hindustan Zinc rises over 4% ahead of earnings, dividend announcement on Thursday

Shares of Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc rose 4.5% to Rs 364 in Wednesday's intraday trade on BSE ahead of the December quarter earnings. The company will also consider the third interim dividend for FY23 in its meeting, which is to be held on Thursday.

"The board will consider a third interim dividend on equity shares, if any, for the financial year 2022-23 in its meeting to be held on Thursday, January 19, 2023," the company said in a BSE filing.

At 10.41 am, the scrip was trading 3.5% higher at Rs 360.65 over its previous day's closing price of Rs 348.35 apiece. The stock has also risen about 23% in the last six months, while it has surged 11% in the last one year.

In Q2FY23, Hindustan Zinc reported a 32.8% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,680 crore. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,017 crore in Q2FY22.

Its revenue from operations in the July-September period of FY23 increased to Rs 8,127 crore from Rs 5,958 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The company's mined metal output during the September quarter was at 2,55,000 tonne, up 2.8% YoY on the back of better grades and improved mill recoveries. Hindustan Zinc's integrated metal production in the second quarter of 2022 was 2,46,000 tonne, up 17.5% year-on-year.

As per Trendlyne data, the highest target price for the stock goes up to Rs 396, while the average target price estimate is Rs 300, which shows a downside of 17% from the current level.

The consensus recommendation from 12 analysts for Hindustan Zinc is sell. Out of the 12 analysts covering the stock, only two have strong buy ratings, while six have sell ratings and the remaining four have hold ratings.

The company is the country's only integrated producer of zinc, lead and silver. It has its headquarters in Udaipur, Rajasthan where it has its zinc, lead mines and smelting complexes.

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