RIL shares worth Rs 4,500 cr sold by mutual funds; SBI, HDFC funds top sellers in July

The number of shares held at the end of July was down to 30,36,34,657 or 4.79% of the total share capital.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) the oil-to-telecom conglomerate after having surged to record highs was not on the shopping list of mutual fund houses in July, on the contrary it was one of the most sold stocks. According to Primemfdatabase, mutual funds sold Rs 4,500 crore worth of Reliance Industries stocks in the month of July. The stock surged from Rs 1,737 per share at the beginning of July to end the month trading at a price of Rs 2,066 apiece. The stock surged 20% during the month, adding to its already phenomenal run that had seen it climb up from its March low of Rs 867 per share.

In June, the number of shares of RIL held by mutual funds stood at 32,70,27,078 which was 4.84% of the total share capital of the company. The number of shares held at the end of July was down to 30,36,34,657 or 4.79% of the total share capital. Despite trimming their stake in the Mukesh Ambani led conglomerate, the value of holding increased by Rs 7034 crore, according to Primemfdatabase. RIL shares have so far surged 141% from their March lows. The boost in RIL shares in July was nudged by the company’s Annual General Meet, where Mukesh Ambani announced that Google had decided to invest in the company. This made RIL a company that saw investment from Facebook as well as Google.

One of the largest sellers of RIL shares was HDFC Mutual Fund. The fund house sold over 82 lakh shares of the company, bringing its stake down to 0.39% at the end of July, as against 0.48% in the previous month. It was followed by SBI Mutual Fund, which sold over 35 lakh shares of RIL in the month of July. Among other fund houses that sold the stock were, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, DSP Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, among others. From the 36 fund houses tracked by Primemfdatabase, 29 were seen selling the stock.

The remaining 7 fund houses increased their stake in RIL during the month. Axis Mutual Fund was the biggest buyer, getting a hold of another 10.6 lakh shares of the company, increasing its stake from 0.22% to 0.25%. Motilal Oswal was also one of the buyers, picking up 7.57 lakh shares. Others included, IIFL Mutual Fund, Essel Mutual Fund, LIC MF, HSBC, and PGIM India. Despite the recent run-up in prices, some brokerage firms still remain optimistic about RIL stock price touching the Rs 2,300 mark. Global brokerage and research firm Bank of America, believes that RIL offers a good risk-reward ratio, adding that the consumer business  is the key driver going forward.