Team Prashant Jain lapped up shares of HDFC twins in March, dumped PSU stocks

Fund managers at HDFC Mutual Fund bought 81 lakh shares of Ashok Leyland in March. The company could be the beneficiary of an improving economy and the government’s increased focus on logistics. Analysts are largely bullish on the stock, with a consensus upside of 18 per cent from current levels.

According to mutual fund buy and sell data collated by East India Securities, HDFC Mutual Fund also loaded up 80 lakh shares of HDFC Bank and 71 lakh shares of HDFC in March. Interestingly, buying came ahead of the Street-shaking announcement of the merger of both entities in early April, following which both stocks rallied significantly.

HDFC Mutual Fund was not the only fund house that found itself lucky. Other top fund managers, including ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund, also bought HDFC twins ahead of the merger.

Analysts have welcomed the merger of both entities as they believe it will turn the lender into a “money-making machine”. They have also upgraded target prices for both stocks following the merger announcement.

Other top buys of Prashant Jain-led team were Max Healthcare Institute, Bank Of Baroda, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge, Ambuja Cements, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards And Payment Services, Container Corporation Of India and IDFC.

On the other hand, the money managers left no holds barred in selling stocks of public sector units, especially from the energy and utility segment. As per data, they sold 6.5 crore shares of hydropower generator NHPC. The selling came after the record date of its dividend payment had passed.

Though, most analysts do not agree with HDFC Mutual Fund’s assessment of the stock and are overwhelmingly bullish on the counter with potential upsides up to 43 per cent from the last closing price.

The mutual fund house also sold 1.78 crore shares of Union Bank of India. The stock has underperformed for many years and has shown no sign of picking up momentum. Analysts have a mixed take on the stock.

Other stocks that HDFC Mutual Fund dumped in March include NTPC, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Zomato, NLC India, Power Grid, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and SJVN.

Please note that some of the buying or selling in the above-mentioned counters could be due to adjustments in passive funds, which follow respective indices.