Mutual funds added a whopping 19.71 crore shares of ITC to their portfolios in March — a 16.1% month-on-month jump from the number of shares they held at the end of the previous month.
According to a Motilal Oswal note, mutual funds together owned 140.91 crore shares of ITC at the end of March.
In value terms, the ITC shares worth Rs 11,120 crore were bought by MFs taking the total value of these shares to Rs 60,360 crore — a 22.6% increase over February — this report estimated.
ITC was the largest addition among its largecap peers and its shares account for 1.9% of the assets under management (AUM) of the mutual funds, the Motilal Oswal note said.
ITC shares have gained 5% in March.
The FMCG counter remains among the top 10 holdings of several mutual funds including SBI MF (2.6%), ICICI Prudential (3.2%). Another report by Nuvama revealed MFs’ house-wise activity for March where Aditya Birla SL MF added ITC shares worth Rs 306 crore while Axis MF bought Rs 356-crore shares of the company.ICICI Prudential topped the charts purchasing shares worth Rs 4,892 crore. Other buyers include Kotak MF with shares worth Rs 377 crore.
While the March quarter shareholding data on the BSE was not updated at the time of filing the copy, mutual funds held 9.66% in ITC at the end of the December quarter, data showed.
The stock was trading at Rs 426.35 on the NSE on Monday, down by Rs 3.75 or 0.87% over Friday’s closing price. The stock has been a market laggard, losing nearly 9% in price value in 2024. In the past 12 months, its returns have been to the tune of 7%.
Also Read: ITC, TCS among top largecap additions by mutual funds in March
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