Analysts cut HPCL's earning and price targets

Mumbai: HPCL fell more than 3.5% on Friday after its second-quarter earnings disappointed analysts, leading to cuts in earning and price targets.

Shares of the state-owned oil and gas refining company closed at ₹203.65 apiece on the BSE, down 3.51% from the previous close. Analysts, on aggregate, have set a price target of ₹251.45 per share over the next 12 months compared with ₹270.14 earlier.

Out of the 20 analysts who reviewed the company's September quarter earnings, 13 cut their targets, while six kept them unchanged. One firm - - raised the price target to ₹216 from ₹203.

Domestic brokerage firm Antique Broking is at the top of the table with analysts expecting the price to touch ₹351 (from ₹363 earlier) followed by that set a target of ₹302 (from ₹328 earlier). maintained its 'reduce' rating with a target price of ₹186. "HPCL Q2FY23 operating performance was weak," it said in a client note.

"FY24E is likely to see a sharper recovery thanks to the commissioning of Vizag refinery, Rajasthan refinery (50% share) and the expected merger apart from some revival in marketing margin. However, we remain cautious due to the sharp increase in leverage and decline in return ratios over FY22-FY24e," added ICICI Securities. The stock has lost over 4% in the last five days and is down 31.4% since 2022 in a painful year for oil marketing firms as the spike in crude prices eroded refining margins.