Orbis Allan Gray Ltd Sells 1,066,811 Shares of HDFC Bank Limited $HDB

Key Points

• Orbis Allan Gray Ltd reduced its stake in HDFC Bank by 70.3%, selling over one million shares, while still holding 451,048 shares valued at approximately $29.97 million.
• During the first quarter, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake by 105.5%, and OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp raised its holdings by 6,502.2%, indicating significant institutional interest.
• HDFC Bank recently reported a 0.74 earnings per share, slightly missing estimates, and announced a special dividend of $0.1707 per share with a yield of 101.0%.

Orbis Allan Gray Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB - Free Report) by 70.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 451,048 shares of the bank's stock after selling 1,066,811 shares during the quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd's holdings in HDFC Bank were worth $29,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HDB. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in HDFC Bank by 451.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 19,490 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in HDFC Bank by 111.7% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 39,109 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,498,000 after acquiring an additional 20,633 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $580,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of HDFC Bank by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 266,600 shares of the bank's stock valued at $17,025,000 after purchasing an additional 9,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of HDFC Bank by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,015,588 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,855,000 after purchasing an additional 347,488 shares during the last quarter. 17.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of HDFC Bank from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, HDFC Bank presently has a consensus rating of "Strong Buy".

HDFC Bank Stock Down 1.9%

HDB traded down $1.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.78. 2,976,967 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,524,856. The business's 50 day moving average is $75.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.01. HDFC Bank Limited has a fifty-two week low of $57.78 and a fifty-two week high of $79.61. The stock has a market cap of $177.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.63.

HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. HDFC Bank had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 14.49%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HDFC Bank Limited will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

HDFC Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.1707 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a yield of 101.0%. HDFC Bank's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.63%.

About HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits.