(Reuters) -Shares of India’s private lender Axis Bank rose 4% on Thursday after its September-quarter results showed improved asset quality and balance sheet growth.
The stock climbed as much as 4.04% to 1,216.9 rupees by 9:30 a.m. IST, making it the top gainer on the Nifty 50, which was up 0.4%. It last traded 3% higher.
At least eight brokerages out of the 40 covering Axis Bank’s stock raised their price targets on the stock, as per data compiled by LSEG.
“Improvements have been substantial, including credit cost decline and better-than-estimated net interest margin resilience,” analysts at HSBC said.
The brokerage note did not mention how much they were expecting NIM to be at, but analysts at Jefferies had predicted NIM to decline by 20 basis points sequentially.
Axis posted a 7 basis points decline, which they saw this as a “key positive trend for the quarter.”
HSBC raised its target price on the stock to 1,460 rupees from 1,340 rupees.
Jefferies raised its price target on stock to 1,430 rupees from 1,370 rupees earlier and retained “buy” rating.
Axis posted a sharper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday. However, its total deposits grew 11% on-year, while credit costs declined.
Its net interest margin shrank to 3.73% from 3.8% in the previous quarter and 3.99% in the year-ago period.
(Reporting by Manvi Pant; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
