Rakesh Jhunjhunwala trimmed stake in these firms last quarter, shares of some have since gained

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sold a part of his stake in nine companies during the October December quarter, of these only four stock have since given negative returns while five others have gone on to gain. The billionaire investors trimmed stake in his favourite Titan Company Limited along with Crisil, Aptech, Federal Bank, Rallis India, Fortis Healthcare, Autoline Industries, Escorts, and Firstsource Solutions. Most of these firms, except Fortis Healthcare and Crisil, have doubled from March 2020 lows.

The biggest jump recorded by any of the stocks where Rakesh Jhunjhunwala pruned his stake was seen in Aptech, an education technology firm. The big bull sold 0.17% of his stake in the company during the previous quarter, bringing his shareholding to 23.84% in the firm. Since the beginning of the year, shares of Aptech have zoomed 39% to now sit at Rs 218 per share. Private sector lender Federal Bank was the other firm where Rakesh Jhunjhunwala cut his stake and the share price rallied 29% since January 1. His stake in Federal Bank was at 2.4% at the end of December last year, down 0.31% from the second quarter of the fiscal year.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s holding in Fortis Healthcare was cut by nearly half a per cent to 2.18%. During the last one year shares of the company had managed to gain only 45% but after the big bull cut his stake, the stock has gained 13.46%. The other two stocks that have gained since Jhunjhunwala sold part of his stake include Firstsource Solutions and Escorts. Shares of Escorts have gained 2.8% while those of Firstsource Solutions jumped 5.6%. Firstsource solutions and Escorts were Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s biggest stake sales during the previous quarter.

However, not all of big bull’s bets failed him. The ace investor who is often called the Warren Buffett of India sold 0.20% of his stake in Titan Company, one of his oldest and largest holdings. Since the beginning of the year, shares of the company are down 5.4%. Autoline Industries, where Jhunjhunwala now holds a 5.65% stake, after selling 0.55% of his holdings, is down 3.8% since January began and Rallis India, where the big bull owns nearly a 10% stake is down 3.16%. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala also trimmed his holdings in Crisil, which is now down 1.33% so far this year.

(Stock holdings referred here are based on the shareholding pattern reported at the end of the third quarter of the financial year 2021.)