LIC shares climb over 4% on multifold rise in Q3 profit

Shares of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India rose over 4% today after the state-owned firm announced a multifold rise in its Q3 earnings. LIC stock gained 4.33% intraday to Rs 639.9 against the previous close of Rs 613.35 on BSE. Shares of LIC opened higher at Rs 629. Market cap of LIC rose to Rs 3.93 lakh crore on BSE. Total 1.99 lakh shares of the firm changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 12.52 crore. The stock has been gaining for the last five days.

In terms of technicals, the relative strength index (RSI) of LIC stands at 29.2, signaling it's trading in the oversold territory. LIC has a price to equity ratio of 95.44.  

LIC shares are trading higher than the 5-day moving averages but lower than 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages.

The stock is down 12.26% in a month. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs  920 on May 17, 2022 and a 52 week low of Rs 582.45 on February 1, 2023.      

The state-owned insurer reported a multi-fold surge in net profit at Rs 6,334 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 as against Rs 235 crore in the year-ago period as it recognised a gain due to changes in its accounting policy.

The insurer's net premium income climbed 15% to Rs 1.1 lakh crore in Q3FY23 as compared to Rs 97,620 crore in Q3FY22.

Income from investments rose to Rs 84,889 crore from Rs 76,574.24 crore a year ago, LIC said in a stock exchange filing. 

In the September quarter, LIC reported a standalone net profit of Rs 15,952 crore higher than Rs 1,433 crore a year ago. Net premium income for the quarter rose 26.6% YoY to Rs 1.32 lakh crore. Net income from investments rose 10% YoY to Rs 84,104 crore.

MR Kumar, Chairperson, LIC said, "We continue to remain focused on creating a portfolio mix to optimise value for all stakeholders, and in that context, increasing the proportion of Non-par business in a consistent and profitable manner. In the Individual business, on an APE basis, the share of Non Par Business has increased to 9.45 per cent for the nine months ended December 31st, 2022, as against 7.12 per cent for full year ended March 31st, 2022. While the relative growth of various products within the Non-par bucket will vary within each quarter, we believe we are firmly on our way to achieving the target product mix changes. We think the market is showing signs of robust growth and we are confident of retaining and also growing our market share going forward."