Unit Trust of India (UTI) has sold Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shares netting Rs 30-35 crore in the last three months.
According to L&T's shareholding pattern filed with stock exchanges during April-June, the country's largest mutual fund, which has been on a selling spree, offloaded 16.66 lakh shares. Owing to redemption pressure from its various schemes, UTI offloaded shares in several companies including ITC, Reliance and a host of public sector stocks.
However, its not just UTI which offloaded shares in the company. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have also pared their exposure by 2 per cent. Institutional investors comprising mutual funds and UTI, banks, financial institutions (FIs), insurance companies and FIIs sold 2.12 per cent in L&T during the same period.
Analysts tracking the L&T counter said, while UTI has sold shares to meet payment obligations, other institutional investors offloaded as cement stocks typically suffer during monsoon.
Cement prices have crashed with the onset of monsoon across the country. While monsoon is the primary reason behind the drop in cement prices, excess supply and new distribution strategies have also affected prices in different markets.
While the drop in Mumbai was at a moderate Rs 7 a bag, prices have dropped by Rs 30-40 in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, by Rs 30 in Kolkata and by Rs 25-30 in Punjab and Delhi.
Moreover, the company reported a 25.41 per cent drop in net profit in the fourth quarter ended March 2002 at Rs 186.76 crore compared with Rs 250.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Interestingly, while institutional investors are on a selling spree, Grasim, which is the single largest corporate entity in L&T, has increased its holding in the company by 2.84 per cent to 12.89 per cent. Late last year, Grasim had bought a 10.05 per cent stake in L&T from Reliance Industries.
The new FI entrants in the company are United Insurance Company, which has picked up 1.05 per cent and National Insurance Company another 1.02 per cent.
As on June 30, the shareholding pattern of L&T indicates that mutual funds and UTI have 11.85 per cent, banks, FIs and insurance companies have 26.45 per cent, FIIs hold 5.69 per cent, private corporate bodies are at 17.89 per cent, NRIs/OCBs at 0.74 per cent, Indian public hold 32.26 per cent and others 5.02 per cent.
The L&T scrip, which touched a high of Rs 257.9 on May 29, closed at Rs 180.20 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Volumes were significant at 1,30,015 and 2,26,685 on the BSE and NSE, respectively.
