ITC emerges as fourth-most valued company on the stock market
28 Jul 2018
Diversified major ITC Ltd has overtaken Hindustan Unilever (HUL) to emerge as the fourth-most valued company in terms of market valuation, with the scrip spurting by nearly 5.25 per cent and closing at Rs302.2 on the BSE on Friday.
The ITC share had zoomed by nearly 7 per cent, touching Rs307, its 52-week high, earlier in the day. It was also responsible for sending the benchmark Sensex shooting up by more than 350 points and touching 37,336.85.
The scrip was the top gainer on the BSE Sensex and has also emerged as the most valued FMCG company. The company’s market valuation rose to almost Rs3.7 lakh crore, about Rs10,000 crore more than that of HUL.
Net profit for Q1 of the current fiscal shot up by 10 per cent to Rs2,818.68 crore. This was mainly because of growth in its agri-business and the FMCG sector and lower expenses.
ITC scrips have seen sharp gains over the past seven sessions and has added more than Rs40,000 crore in market capitalisation.
The target price for ITC has been raised to Rs390 from Rs340 by analysts. The scrip has gained by almost 15 per cent in 2018, against less than 10 per cent growth of the Sensex.
TCS is India’s most valued firm with a market cap of Rs7.43 lakh crore, followed by Reliance Industries (Rs7.15 lakh crore) and HDFC Bank (Rs5.82 lakh crore).