ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto are most popular large cap stocks; Hindalco, Adani Ports shares command 100% 'Buy' ratings

ICICI Bank is the most popular large cap stock among marketmen, with a total of 54 analysts tracking the private lender. Bajaj Holdings and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) have emerged as the least popular stocks in the top 100 pack by market capitalisation. Hindalco Industries and Adani Ports & SEZ are two large cap stocks with 100 per cent 'Buy' ratings. Stocks such as JSW Steel, Divis Labs, Hindustan Zinc and Pidilite Industries have least 'Buy' ratings in the large cap pack, Motilal Oswal's latest study suggests.

These 100 stocks, which account for 68 per cent of India's market capitalisation, have consensus price targets that indicate a 17 per cent potential upside ahead. The top-15 stocks are projected to contribute 70 per cent to the potential target price upsides of the top 100 set. Also, the top-15 stocks are expected to contribute 82 per cent to the earnings CAGR of the top 100 set, Motilal Oswal Securities said.

ICICI remained the most popular stock, with 54 analysts covering the stock. A total of 52 analysts each track Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki. IndusInd Bank (51), Axis Bank (50) and State Bank of India (50) remained some of the large cap stocks, which are tracked by at least 50 analysts.

On the flipside, no analyst tracks Bajaj Holdings. IOB and IDBI Bank are tracked by one analyst each. CG Power (four), Bosch (six), Union Bank (seven), IRCTC (eight) and Bajaj Finserv (nine) are a few large cap stocks that are not tracked by a majority analysts.

Meanwhile, Hindalco Industries and Adani Ports are two stocks with 100 per cent ‘Buy’ ratings. SBI, Larsen & Toubro, SBI Life Insurance, ICICI Bank, NTPC and HDFC, among others are a few stocks where Buy ratings are as high as 98 per cent.

JSW Steel has the least buy ratings at 19 per cent. It is followed by Divis Labs and Hindustan Zinc, which have buy ratings of mere 20 per cent each.

The Motilal Oswal study suggeste that analyst sentiment, as measured by the proportion of Buy/Hold/Sell ratings, was hit over the past year, with the percentage of 'Buy' ratings moderating to 71 per cent from 73 per cent a year ago. The percentage of 'Hold' has risen, the brokerage noted.

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