ICICI Bank Ltd., the Mumbai-based private lender now features among those few stocks on the street, that do not have a "sell" rating on the stock. 45 out of the 50 analysts that have coverage on the bank, have a "buy" recommendation on the stock, while the other five have a "hold" rating.
The lender reported its September quarter results over the weekend, where its asset quality improved compared to the June quarter, while its advances and deposits both grew by 15% each during the quarter, when compared to the same period last year.
Brokerage firm Citi maintained its "buy" rating with a revised price target of ₹1,600 from ₹1,547 earlier. It said that the lender's consistency and resilience are paving the way for a higher valuation.
It also mentioned that ICICI Bank is bucking the peer trend with resilient asset quality and credit cost delivering an upbeat surprise with a sequential improvement. Factoring in lower opex and credit costs, Citi has raised its earnings estimate for ICICI Bank by 2% for financial year 2025 - 2027.
CLSA has maintained its "outperform" rating on the lender with a price target of ₹1,600. It said that HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank stand out this quarter among other private sector banks, adding that among the large banks, ICICI Bank has the highest standard asset provisioning.
Motilal Oswal also retained its "buy" rating on ICICI Bank with a price target of ₹1,500. It has increased ICICI Bank's EPS estimates by 2.8% and 1.8% for financial year 2025 and 2026 and Return on Assets (RoA) and RoE (Return on Equity) are estimated to be at 2.19% and 17.4% respectively in financial year 2026.