Motilal Oswal maintains ‘buy’ on Axis Bank, target price Rs 860

Motilal Oswal has maintained its ‘buy’ rating on Axis Bank with a target price of Rs 860. The brokerage said Axis Bank has been looking to enter the life insurance business and the proposed deal with Max Financial Services will boost symbiotic relationship between the two entities. While overall value creation for Axis is contingent on the performance of core bank, the sum of the parts story is evolving well as it can potentially contribute 8%-10% of total valuation. The stock closed at Rs 725, down 2.5% on Monday.