SBI shares hit record high after Q3; brokerages raise target up to ₹1,300

SBI shares hit a fresh all-time high after Q3FY26 results beat estimates. Brokerages raise earnings forecasts and target prices to ₹1,300, maintaining buy calls

The State Bank of India (SBI) cemented its place as the ‘top stock pick’ for analysts following its results for the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26), as the state-owned lender’s earnings beat Street estimates by a decent margin. 

 

Additionally, SBI’s core earnings staying stronger-than-private banks for a third consecutive quarter has prompted some brokerages to lift their earning estimates and price targets on the stock.

 

Emkay Global Financial Services has raised its earnings estimates for FY26-28 by 2-4 per cent, and the target price to ₹1,225. Motilal Oswal Financial Services has also increased its earnings estimates by 3 per cent for FY27 and 4.3 per cent for FY28, estimating FY27 return on asset (RoA) and return on equity (RoE) at 1.1 per cent and 15.9 per cent respectively. It has also raised its target price on the SBI stock to ₹1,300. 

 

 

Overall, 42 of the 49 analysts tracking the stock have assigned it a ‘buy’ rating, according to Bloomberg data. 

 

On the bourses, the SBI share price jumped 7.8 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), hitting a fresh high of ₹1,150 per share in the intraday trade. The stock logged its biggest single-day gain since June 2024, with around 40.8 million shares worth ₹4,633.17 crore changing hands on the counter.  

 

The stock ended with gains of 7.6 per cent, against a 0.68 per cent rise in the Nifty50 index and a 3.34 per cent gain in the Nifty PSU Bank index. 

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Q3 performance 

On Saturday, SBI had reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of ₹21,028 crore — up 24.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y).

 

Its net interest income (NII) increased 9 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹45,190 crore, while reported net interest margin (NIM) expanded 2 basis points (bps) to 2.99 per cent. However, when adjusted for interest on tax refunds, core NIM fell 1-bp quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q).

 

The management expects the recent regulatory guidelines by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open up lending opportunities in real estate investment trusts (Reits) and merger & acquisition (M&A) financing, which will further scale up the already strong corporate funding pipeline. SBI has raised the upper end of its credit growth guidance to 13-15 per cent from 12-14 per cent, and maintained an exit NIM guidance of around 3 per cent for FY26.

“Strong and diversified growth, resilient margins despite deposit pressure, industry-leading asset quality, and large provision buffers underpin SBI’s improved earnings visibility and balance-sheet strength. Sustained RoA, at over 1 per cent, and healthy mid-teen RoE profile warrant premium valuation vs historical valuations,” analysts at JM Financial Institutional Securities said. They, too, maintained their ‘buy’ rating while increasing target price to ₹1,250 from ₹1,140. 

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Best asset quality in ‘multiple years’ 

SBI's asset quality also sustained improvement with gross and net slippages reducing 3 bps Q-o-Q each. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) and net NPA (NNPA) ratio also improved 15 bps and 3 bps Q-o-Q to 1.57 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively. This, analysts noted, was among SBI’s best asset quality print in multiple years.

 

Along with this, SBI continued to maintain strong buffers with provision coverage ratio (PCR) at 75.5 per cent.

 

Analysts at Motilal Oswal noted that SBI reported a strong all-round performance, led by robust business growth, margin expansion and healthy asset quality. “The bank beat in net profit estimate in Q3FY26 is higher than the combined profits of all private banks under our coverage universe, excluding the top four large private banks. The management expects a robust credit pipeline to support a healthy outlook going forward,” they said.

 

Mcap tops ₹10 trn for first time

  The State Bank of India (SBI)’s market capitalisation (mcap) topped the ₹10 trillion mark for the first time on Monday, following a 7.5 per cent rally in its stock on the back of strong Q3 earnings. Shares of the state-owned lender ended at an all-time high of ₹1,146, valuing the firm at ₹10.6 trillion. SBI is currently the fifth most valuable company in India after Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Tata Consultancy Services. Shares of SBI have gained 55 per cent in the past one year, outperforming the Nifty50  index which has gained 10 per cent. 

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