Shares of FMCG firm ITC Ltd have delivered flat returns to investors this year. ITC stock, which more than doubled investor wealth in three years rose 2% in 2024 till date. In three months, the stock slipped 7.39%. The stock has remained weak in the short term. The stock has a high PE ratio of 29.10. Its price-to-book ratio is also high at 8.03.
ITC shares rose 1% to Rs 479.95 in the current session against the previous close of Rs 474.20 on BSE. Market cap of the firm stood at Rs 5.99 lakh crore. Total 1.33 lakh shares of the FMCG firm changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 6.31 crore on BSE.
In terms of technicals, the relative strength index (RSI) of ITC stock stands at 52.8, signaling it's trading neither in the overbought zone nor in the oversold zone. ITC shares are trading higher than the 5 day, 10 day, 20 day, 30 day, 50 day, 100 day, 150 day and 200 day moving averages.
Motilal Oswal has a price target of Rs 575 on the ITC stock.
Antique Broking has raised its target price to Rs 563 and maintained its 'buy' call on the stock. The brokerage cited company's resilience in a challenging consumer environment behind its bullish stance.
The brokerage said ITC’s strategy of offering cigarettes at various price points, which has helped it counter aggressive competition, and its premium FMCG portfolio across food and personal care, which is expected to outperform consumer staple peers.
Mileen Vasudeo, Senior Technical Analyst at Arihant Capital Markets has a buy call on the stock with a target price of Rs 510-530. Stop Loss can be fixed at Rs 450.
"We are observing that prices of ITC have taken support at the 200-days SMA at Rs 259 and have bounced from those levels on the daily charts. At present, the stock is underperforming the benchmark indices. However, the momentum indicator RSI is positively poised. Hence, one can buy the stock at current levels with a stop loss of Rs 450 for a target of Rs 510-530 levels in a couple of weeks," said Vasudeo.
Centrum Broking has a price target of Rs 583 on the stock.
Brokerage Macquarie has a price target of Rs 560 on the ITC stock with an outperform call. Currently, cigarettes attract 28% GST rate & a compensation cess of 5-36% based on length of cigarette with longest cigarette attracting 36%.
Macquarie said if this levy of a special rate is over and above the existing compensation cess, the brokerage believes ITC will need at least a high single digit price hike to offset this tax increase.