ITC, IndiGo, Star Health, Kotak, Axis Bank shares: Stocks that top insurers bought & sold in May

Five insurers, which manage Rs 3.70 lakh crore worth equity assets and account for a total 75 per cent of insurance sector's exposure to domestic equities, were seen buying shares of Vedant Fashions (Rs 257 crore), IDFC First Bank (Rs 185 crore), Star Health (RS 182 crore), ITC (Rs 181 crore) and Rainbow Children (Rs 161 crore) in May. These insurers were seen trimming stakes to Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 699 crore), InterGlobe Aviation or IndiGo (Rs 296 crore), Larsen & Toubro or L&T (Rs 203 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 202 crore) and Ultratech Cement (Rs 167 crore) in the month gone by, as per a data compiled by Nuvama Alternative Research.

Here is what top insurance companies bought and sold in May.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

As per Nuvama, ICICI Prudential Life's prominent additions included Vedant Fashions (Rs 223 crore), Star Health (Rs 182 crore) and Bajaj Finserv (Rs 101 crore). The insurance company reduced stakes in Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 678 crore), IndiGo (Rs 296 crore) and L&T (RS 126 crore). “New entrants included Star Health and Jubilant FoodWorks while Canara Bank and Go Fashion were complete exits,” it said.

SBI Life Insurance

SBI Life's large additions included Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 335 crore), HDFC (Rs 310 crore) and ITC (Rs 219 crore). Its major reductions included Cummins (Rs 185 crore), SRF (Rs 179 crore) and Infosys (Rs 158 crore). Mankind Pharma and Dalmia Bharat were SBI Life’s new entrants while Ami Organics was its complete exit.

HDFC Life Insurance

HDFC Life's large additions were Rainbow Children’s Medicare (Rs 156 crore), HDFC (Rs 119 crore) and LTI Mindtree (Rs 52 crore). Its key reductions were HDFC Bank (Rs 104 crore), Indian Hotels (Rs 89 crore) and Godrej Consumer (Rs 70 crore). Max Healthcare and Equitas Small Financial were its new entrants while Pfizer and UPL were its complete exits.

Tata AIA Life Insurance

This life insurer added shares of ITC (Rs 144 crore), IDFC First Bank (Rs 140 crore) and Indian Hotels (Rs 114 crore) to its stock portfolio. The fund reduced holdings in Axis Bank (Rs 130 crore), Bharat Forge (Rs 108 crore) and L&T Tech Services (Rs 107 crore). Alembic Pharma and Zomato were Tata AIA Life Insurance’s new entrants while Grasim Industries and Samvardhana Motherson were its complete exits.

Kotak Life Insurance

Kotak Life's large additions were Mankind Pharma (Rs 81 crore), Eicher Motors (Rs 61 crore) and Biocon (Rs 42 crore). Its prominent reductions included Tech Mahindra (Rs 98 crore), Apollo Hospitals (Rs 65 crore) and KPIT Tech (Rs 63 crore). New entrants included Vedant Fashions and Poly Medicure while KPIT Tech and Lakshmi Machine were its complete exits.

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