5-day rally halts! L&T Finance down 7% on profit-taking post L&T stake hike

Shares of L&T Finance Holdings dipped 7 per cent to Rs 82.65 on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day amid heavy volume on profit booking. At 09:52 am; the stock was down 5 per cent at Rs 84.25, as compared to a 0.09 per cent decline on the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 33 million equity shares changed hands in the first 35 minutes of trade on the NSE and BSE.

In the past five trading sessions, the stock of L&T Group zoomed 37 per cent after its promoter Larsen & Toubro (L&T) purchased 55.75 million equity shares representing 2.3 per cent stake of L&T Finance Holding via open market purchases.

On Wednesday, the stock ended 18 per cent higher after L&T bought 41.49 million equity shares of L&T Finance Holdings for Rs 348 crore. L&T picked up 21.22 million shares at an average price of Rs 83.52 on the NSE. The company also bought another 20.27 million shares from the BSE. The names of the sellers were not ascertained immediately.

According to insider trading data available on BSE, L&T, which owned 63.5 per cent stake in L&T Finance Holdings at the end of December, had acquired 14.3 million shares during March 17-21. This, along with Wednesday’s acquisition, the total purchase by the promoter would add up 55.75 million shares, taking the promoter holding to 65.8 per cent.

The stock of L&T Finance Holdings hit a 52-week low of Rs 58.50 on March 7, 2022. Despite the current rally, in past one year, the stock has underperformed the market by falling 13 per cent, as compared to a 17 per cent surge on the S&P BSE Sensex.