March-21 quarter: How did equity funds shuffle portfolios
Domestic mutual fund holding in companies listed on NSE went down to 7.23 per cent as on 31st March 2021 from 7.42 per cent as on 31st December 2020 aggregately by percentage. In value terms, mutual fund holding stood at Rs 14.30 lakh crore. But were there any big changes in MF portfolio holdings in the March 2021 quarter? Which stocks saw the biggest increase? Which stocks saw fund managers moving out of them? Here are the details, as per data from PRIME Database Group.
Highest MF ownership
Let us take a look at the top 10 companies with highest MF holding as on quarter ending 31st March 2021.
The list starts with Equitas (30.65%), KNR Constructions (30.43%), Federal Bank (29.78%), City Union Bank (28.97%), Techno Electric (28.48%), Crompton Greaves Consumer (27.90%), DCB Bank (27.38%), Greenply Industries (27.25%), Ashoka Buildcon (27.23%) and Persistent Systems (26.15%).
As you would have noticed this list does not really have a lot of so-called bluechips. It’s more into mid-caps or companies that are tending towards large-caps.
Jump in MF ownership
Now, let us take a look at the listed companies which saw the highest increase in mutual fund holdings in percentage terms in the last 1 quarter.
Wabco India saw the biggest % rise of 10.97 in March 2021 quarter in MF holding. Interestingly, the stock gained 19.02% in the same 90-day period.
Next is Esab India which saw a 8.54% hike in MF holding this quarter, coinciding with a 6% drop in stock price. Varroc Engineering saw 8% jump in MF holding, clearly a sign of funds smelling value because the stock dipped by 8.2% in this quarter.
Max Healthcare Institute saw MF hiking their stake by a combined 4.53%, as the stock gained over 40% in this period.
Hathway Cable was also a big beneficiary of value-based buying as MF holding went up by 4.36% even though the stock corrected by over 22%.
The other top stocks that ssaw significant % jump in MF holdings include SAIL (4.16%), Kirloskar Oil (3.79%), Tata Communications (3.60%), Techno Electric (3.30%) and Astec Lifesciences (3.29%). The MF stake hike in Astec happened in a quarter when the stock plunged 22%.
Fall in MF ownership
There were also listed stocks that saw the highest decrease in mutual fund holdings in percentage terms in the last 1 quarter.
PSU Engineers India Ltd saw MF cutting their stake by 5.71% in March 2021 quarter even though the stock remained unchanged.
Igarashi Motors India saw 5.4% MF stake drop, the second biggest. It happened at a time when the stock corrected over 19% in a quarter.
Just Dial’s 36% rise in share price in March 2021 quarter saw MFs liquidating their holdings, as their combined stake went down by 4.97%.
The story is same for Indian Energy Exchange which saw MFs decreasing stake by 4.88% even as the stock zoomed 46% in this 3-month time-frame.
Other stocks that saw substantial MF stake reduction included Burger King India (down 4.22%), Dixon Technologies (down 4.08%), EPL (down 4.00%), IFGL Refractories (down 3.95%), Siti Networks (down 3.93%0 and Aditya Birla Fashion (down 3.82%).
Biggest MF equity players
Everybody knows LIC is the biggest domestic investor in Indian equities market. But what about mutual funds? Let us take a quick look at the top 10 mutual funds which held the largest positions in companies listed on NSE by value as on 31st March 2021.
SBI MF invested in 295 stocks and held holdings worth Rs 2.52 lakh crore, securing the numero uno slot. SBI MF is followed by ICICI Prudential MF with holdings in 555 companies and the value of holdings is Rs 1.54 lakh crore. Third is HDFC MF with exposure to 330 stocks and the value of holdings is Rs 1.49 lakh crore. Nippon India MF is the 4th biggest with 555 stock exposure and value of holdings is Rs 1.11 lakh crore while UTI MF is the 5th biggest with Rs 1.01 lakh crore holdings across 295 stocks.
The others in the top-10 list are Axis MF (6th), Kotak Mahindra MF (7th), Aditya Birla Sun Life MF (8th), Mirae Asset MF (9th) and DSP MF (10th).
