Investec upgrades ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company to buy, raises target price to Rs 1,350

Investec has upgraded ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company to buy in the long term and raised target price to Rs 1,350 from Rs 1,200. Shares of ICICI Lombard ended up 2.5% at Rs 1,128.25 on Friday while the BSE Sensex closed 1325.34 points up (+4.04%) at 34,103.48.

For the quarter ended 31-12-2019, the company has reported standalone sales of Rs 320.70 crore, down -14.08% from last quarter sales of Rs 373.24 crore and up 15.85% from last year same quarter Sales of Rs 276.83 crore. The company has reported net profit after tax of Rs 294.11 crore in the latest quarter.

The impact of Covid-19 on health insurance is likely to be low given its under-penetration in India, said Investec. ICICI Lombard will be impacted even less due to low market share in health indemnity policies, the brokerage said. Investec said ICICI Lombard’s investment portfolio is conservatively managed with a high share of G-Secs and AAA rated corporates.