Radhakishan Damani Buys Additional Shares In VST Industries; Stock Surges

Shares of VST Industries Ltd. rose over 3% on Tuesday after DMart Founder Radhakishan Damani bought an additional 1.51% stake in the cigarette-making company. The ace investor mopped up 2.33 lakh shares of the company through open market deals. He paid Rs 86.25 crore in total at Rs 3,689.96 per share, according to exchange data.

The billionaire already holds 32.89% stake in VST through his investment firm, Bright Star Investments Ltd., Derive Trading and Resorts Pvt., Derive Investments, Damani Estates and Finance Pvt., and more.

HDFC Mutual Fund offloaded 3.3 lakh shares, representing 2.14% stake in VST Industries Ltd., for an aggregate amount of Rs 122 crore through open market deals on Monday. HDFC Mutual Fund held 5.84% stake in the company, representing 9.01 lakh shares, as of December 2023.

The fund house sold the equity share at Rs 3,690 apiece, according to bulk deal data on the BSE.

Shares of VST Industries rose as much as 3.63% intraday, before paring gains to trade 2.30% higher at 9:35 a.m., compared to a 0.41% decline in the benchmark Nifty 50.

The stock has risen 14.09% in the last 12 months. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 27 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 61.79.

An analyst tracking the company has a 'buy' rating on the stock, according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analysts' price targets implies a potential upside of 4%.