After a stellar run this year, will Axis Bank stock touch Rs 1,200 in 2023?

Shares of Axis Bank were in focus today after financial services firm Motilal Oswal  gave a buy call to the private lender with an upside of 21%. Motilal Oswal said Axis Bank was its top pick, mentioning that growth outlook of the lender was gaining traction.  

HDFC Securities is also bullish on Axis Bank and has assigned a target of Rs 1195 in 2023. Axis Bank shares have been rising for the last three sessions. Currently, the stock is trading higher than the 5-day, 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages.

The large cap stock is trading 2.8% away from the 52-week high of Rs 958.9 hit on December 21, 2022. In the current session, the banking stock was trading flat at Rs 932.20 against the previous close of Rs 932.55 on BSE.

Total 0.20 lakh shares of the firm changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 2.03 crore on BSE. Market cap of the bank stood at Rs 2.86 lakh crore on BSE today. Axis Bank stock has gained 37.98 per cent in one year and risen 37.34 per cent since the beginning of this year. In a month, the stock has gained 4.55 per cent. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 618.10 on June 23, 2022.

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Motilal Oswal has assigned a target price of Rs 1,130, a 21 per cent upside to the previous close of Rs 932.55 .

"Axis Bank remains focused on building a stronger, consistent, and sustainable franchise. Since asset quality issues are behind, slippages and credit cost will be under control. While the bank will continue to make investments, it expects to bring down the cost to-assets ratio to 2% by FY25-end. The bank achieved its target of a consolidated RoE of 18% in 2QFY23 and remains on track to deliver a sustainable RoE of 18% in the medium term. We estimate the bank to deliver FY25 RoA/RoE of 1.8%/16.9%. Axis Bank is our top pick for CY23 with a target of Rs 1,130," said the brokerage.

The lender posted a healthy set of earnings in the September quarter.

Axis Bank logged a 70 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 5,329.77 crore against a profit of Rs 3,133.32 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Net interest income (NII) in Q2 climbed 31 per cent YoY to Rs 10,360 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter came in at 3.96 per cent, up 57 basis points (bps) YoY and 36 bps sequentially. Core operating profit for the quarter climbed 43 per cent YoY Rs 7,802 crore.

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