Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India, for the first time, closed above the retail investor’s IPO price of ₹904 on Saturday. The market capitalisation of LIC stood at ₹5.92-lakh crore at the end of the day. LIC has now surpassed ITC and Hindustan Unilever to occupy the seventh most-valued company in market capitalisation.
During the day, it hit an all-time high of ₹948, a rupee below the allotted IPO price for institutional and high net worth investors and closed at ₹936, up 3.76 per cent, over Friday’s closing price. On the NSE, the stock closed even better at ₹936.85.
After a dismal one-and-a-half year of listing, LIC stock bounced back 77 per cent from its all-time high low price of ₹530 that it touched in March 2023. With this rise, retail investors, employees and policyholders can heave a sigh of relief.
While LIC allotted shares to retail investors and employees at ₹904 in the IPO, high net worth individuals and institutions, the price was ₹949. However, policyholders had a further discount at their allotment price of ₹889.
According to analysts, LIC turned attractive due to a slew of factors that included compelling valuation, bullish sentiment towards public sector stocks, strong embedded value (EV) growth led by buoyant equity markets and the possibility of a step up in dividends.
Meanwhile, LIC has announced the launch of Jeevan Dhara-II, which will be available starting Monday. The product is a non-linked, non-participating, individual savings deferred annuity plan, LIC said in an exchange filing.