Mutual fund (MF) houses were seen buying shares of many midcap companies including Vedant Fashions (Manyavar), Vodafone Idea, Coforge and PB Fintech (Policybazaar) in May. These fund houses trimmed stakes to Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), Max Healthcare Institute, SAIL, Bandhan Bank and Union Bank of India, among others in the month gone by, data showed.
Domestic fund managers increased stake in Vedant Fashions to 3.14 crore shares in May from 2.16 crore shares in April. They held Rs 4,039 crore worth Vedant Fashions shares at May end against Rs 2,752 crore at April end, a report compiled by ICICIdirect suggested. In May, Vedant Fashions, the operator of Manyavar brand, came out with an offer for sale to offload 9.8 per cent stake.
In the case of Vodafone Idea, mutual funds upped holding to 28.64 crore shares from 20.48 crore shares a month ago. Mutual fund managers managed Rs 206 crore worth Vodafone Idea shares as on May 31 against Rs 142 crore as on April 30. Kumar Mangalam Birla recently joined the company board.
In Clean Science And Technology, MF holding value jumped to Rs 805 crore from Rs 650 crore, as they upped stake to 57 lakh shares from 45 lakh shares a month ago.
Colgate-Palmolive (to Rs 824 crore from Rs 698 crore), Aditya Birla Capital (to Rs 575 crore from Rs 481 crore), Coforge (to Rs 7,595 crore from Rs 6,023 crore) and Laurus Labs (to Rs 954 crore from Rs 774 crore) were among other stocks that MFs bought in the month gone by.
Midcaps such as Piramal Enterprises, IDFC First Bank and PB Fintech also saw MF buying last month.
Mutual funds trimmed exposure to IRFC amid weak set of March quarter results. They managed Rs 315 crore worth IRFC shares against Rs 449 crore on month-on-month basis, as they cut stake to 9.78 crore shares from Rs 14.15 crore shares.
Max Healthcare Institute saw fund managers trimming stake to Rs 6,773 crore from Rs 7,585 crore. SAIL (to Rs 1,062 crore from Rs 1,313 crore), Union Bank of India (to Rs 889 crore from Rs 1,153 crore) and Sona BLW Precision Forgings (to Rs 7,789 crore from Rs 7,694 crore) also saw MF selling in May.
Bandhan Bank, The Indian Hotels Company, Kansai Nerolac Paints and Tata Chemicals were some other midcap stocks where MFs reduced stakes to in May.