1,500% dividend! This Rs 43,000 stock to trade ex-date for corporate action today; key details & share price targets

Page Industries shares interim dividend: Shares of Page Industries Ltd shall trade ex-dividend on Thursday as the company board of the maker and distributor of the 'Jockey' brand in India announced a third interim dividend of whopping 1,500 per cent for the eligible shareholders of the company, along with the quarterly results for the period ended on December 31, 2024.

On February 5, 2025, Wednesday, the company board of the Page Industries considered and approved the third interim dividend at 1,500 per cent, that is, Rs 150 per equity share, having face value of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2024-25, said the company in an exchange filing.

"As informed earlier, the record date fixed for the payment of interim dividend is February 13, 2025. The date fixed for payment of dividend is on or before March 07, 2025," said the filing. A dividend announced by the company is paid and calculated as per the face value of the stock and the value of the dividend is subtracted from the market value of the stock.

Shares of Page Industries settled Rs 42,652.50 on Wednesday, rising nearly 1.4 per cent for the day. The innerwear player was commanding a total market capitalization of little more than Rs 47,500 crore. The stock has corrected nearly 15 per cent from its 52-week high at Rs 49,933.15, hit in December 2024.

Page Industries reported a 34.3 per cent rise on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in its net profit at Rs 204.7 crore, with revenue rising 7.1 per cent YoY on year to Rs 1,313 crore in the December 2024 quarter. It clocked an Ebitda of 302 crore, up 33.6 per cent YoY as Ebitda margins expanded by 435bps YoY to 23 per cent, driven by improved gross margins and cost optimisation.

The analysts tracking the stock believe that Page Industries delivered a strong operational performance in the December 2024 quarter, but the soft demand from the consumers remains subdued. However, modern retail and e-commerce continued impressive growth and the demand is likely to return following the government's measure to boost the consumption.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services has maintained its EPS estimates for FY25 and FY26. "We estimate a CAGR of 14%/15%/17% in sales/EBITDA/PAT over FY25-27E. Factors such as inventory optimization through the ARS system, new product launches, capacity expansion, and digitization initiatives all support growth," it said.

Benign input costs and cost efficiencies are likely to lead to a better margin print. The valuation will remain rich but have comfort in both growth and margin in the near term, Motilal Oswal added and reiterated 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 57,500.

Emkay Global Financial Services believes that revenue growth moderated due to the muted demand environment. Demand commentary remained subdued, albeit growth trends may improve slightly as growth impact due to the ARS implementation is largely over Ebitda margin to remain in the 19-21 per cent band, with higher IT/marketing spends hereon, it said.

"Among channels, E-com/EBOs have led most of the growth, while physical channels have seen muted trends. We remain conservative due to uncertain trends/high valuation (65 times 1YF), and maintain 'reduce' with revised target price of Rs 40,000. WC optimization is encouraging but we would like to see sustained trends before building in a multiple re-rating," Emkay adds.

Page Industries had underwhelming growth in revenue and volume amidst demand challenges, leading to sequential deceleration, while channel inventory has largely normalised, said ICICI Securities in Q3 results review note. Acceleration of growth rates would require an improvement in the demand environment, as per management, it said.

"It appears medium-term revenue growth expectations are getting reset lower unless there is material acceleration in consumption demand. Retail network has started to improve sequentially after consolidation for the last few quarters. Operating margin improved driven by lower cotton prices, better mix and better operating efficiency," ICICI Securities said with a 'hold' and a target price of Rs 44,000.