Amid heavy sell-off, FPIs dump 30 mn Paytm shares in less than a year

The retail shareholding has increased to 6.37% at the end of September, as compared to 2.79% at the time of listing

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have dumped 29.7 million shares of Paytm amounting to 44 per cent of their holding in the company in less than a year after its initial public offering (IPO), Economic Times reported.

Paytm had 127 FPIs owning 67.1 million shares of the company on November 17 last year (a day before the stock was listed), representing 10.37 per cent of the shareholders. However, the recent September shareholding pattern shows that the FPIs have sold 44 per cent of their holding, and now own 37.4 million shares. And the number of FPIs has also fallen down to 88, shows data.

Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore), which held a 1.21 per cent share in the company during its IPO is no more a part of the company's shareholder list as its ownership is expected to have gone below the 1 per cent mark.

While the retail shareholding has increased to 6.37 per cent at the end of September, as compared to 2.79 per cent at the time of listing. Retail shareholding is represented by the ones with investments of less than Rs 2 lakh in the stock.

Announced as India's then-largest-ever IPO, the shares of Paytm were sold at the issue price of Rs 2,150, and have been declining since listing.

The stake owned by mutual funds in Paytm has also increased to 1.26 per cent from 0.81 per cent. The Paytm stock is down over 70 per cent, as compared to its IPO issue price. 

Goldman Sachs recently announced a 12-month target price of Rs 1,100 on Paytm and expects the digital payments firm to deliver 50 per cent revenue growth for the new few quarters. The global brokerage firm also said, "We see the business model as continuing to show strong traction, and within our internet coverage, view Paytm as one of the most compelling growth stories at an attractive price."

Axis Capital said Paytm continues to report strong traction in its financial service vertical on higher average ticket price and improved loan disbursal run-rate. "Better-than-expected traction in loan disbursement can lead to a higher share of financial services in overall revenue vs. our estimates, leading to a higher contribution margin (our Q2FY23 estimate is 44.9 per cent, +170 bps QoQ)," it said.

The investment banking firm sees the Paytm stock at Rs 1,000.