What the big 10 fund houses bought and sold in July 2023?

14 Aug 2023 , 09:59 AM

While looking at the changes in the portfolio of mutual funds from large cap and mid-cap perspective is one way, an interesting way to look at mutual fund portfolio shifts is based on what funds in an AMC buy and sell. In India, there are more than 42 active AMCs today. Obviously, you cannot be looking at all these AMCs for practical reasons. However, a fairly representative picture would surely emerge if one looks at the top 10 AMCs by equity fund AUM. That should certainly provide a good picture as these top-10 funds account for more than 90% of overall equity fund AUM. Obviously, the top-10 is dominated by the banking plays. Here we evaluate the shifts in their equity portfolio at 2 levels. At the first level, we look at the large cap stocks which the fund bought, sold or the stocks where they were largely neutral. At the second level, we check the most preferred stocks of each fund house from an alpha perspective. These are size agnostic, but generally smaller companies.

SBI Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us first look at the shares SBI Mutual Fund bought in the month of July 2023, across all market cap classes but predominantly large caps. In terms of MOM percentage increase, SBI MF added to its positions in HDFC Bank (due to merger effect), but also saw accretion of h holdings in  Infosys Ltd, Bajaj Finance, and Reliance Industries. Surprisingly, SBI was neutral in a number of large stocks as we shall see in the next paragraph.

SBI Mutual Fund was neutral on stocks like SBI, Larsen & Toubro and Kotak Mahindra Bank in July 2023. SBI MF also cut its stakes in a number of large companies including ICICI Bank, ITC Ltd and Bharti Airtel. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 in terms of percentage accretion in holdings include LTI Mindtree, Indiamart Intermesh, Petronet LNG, Shriram Finance, and Max Financial Services.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us turn to the large cap shares that ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund bought in July 2023. In terms of MOM percentage increase, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund added to its positions substantially in HDFC Bank (due to the merger effect) and added smaller quantities of Infosys Ltd, Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund did not stay neutral on any of the frontline stocks in July 2023.

There were several stocks in which ICICI Prudential MF cut positions. They cut positions very aggressively in Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma. In addition, the fund also pared positions in NTPC Ltd and Larsen & Toubro during the month of July 2023. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage increase in holdings were Route Mobile, Intellect Design Arena, Prestige Estates, Mangalore Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and JK Cements.

HDFC Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us first look at the shares that HDFC Mutual Fund bought in July 2023, mainly  in the large cap space. In terms of MOM percentage increase, HDFC Mutual Fund added to its positions in HDFC Bank to a large extend due to the impact of HDFC Ltd being converted into HDFC Bank shares post-merger. However, there were other stocks that HDFC Mutual Fund added positions including ICICI Bank, Infosys Ltd, NTPC Ltd, and Axis Bank.

HDFC Mutual Fund did not remain neutral on any of the stocks in the month of July 2023. However, HDFC mutual Fund sharply cut positions in stocks Reliance Industries and to a lesser extent it trimmed its positions in Larsen & Toubro, ITC Ltd, SBI, and Bharti Airtel. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage increase in holdings included Eris Life Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Fortis Healthcare, ACC Ltd and Pidilite Industries.

Nippon India Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us move on to the stocks Nippon India MF bought in July 2023, across large caps. In terms of MOM percentage increase, Nippon India MF added to positions substantially in HDFC Bank (due to HDFC Ltd conversion post-merger), but also added aggressively in State Bank of India and Infosys Ltd. It added to a smaller extent in stocks like NTPC Ltd. Nippon Fund stayed neutral on ICICI Bank Ltd for the month of July 2023.

What about the large cap stock exits? During July 2023, Nippon India MF cut its positions across several stocks like Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Power Grid Corporation, ONGC and Coal India Ltd. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage increase in holdings included Amara Raja Batteries, Birlasoft, Jindal Stainless, Hero MotoCorp, and KFIN Technologies (formerly Karvy Computershare Ltd).

UTI Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us now turn to the oldest fund in India and check what are the shares that UTI Mutual Fund bought and sold in July 2023? In terms of MOM percentage increase, UTI MF added to its large cap positions only in TCS. Needless to say, even UTI Mutual Fund had a huge accretion in HDFC Bank shareholding due to the conversion of HDFC Ltd shares into HDFC Bank shares. UTI AMC was neutral in July 2023 on ICICI Bank, Infosys Ltd, ITC Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Larsen & Toubro.

UTI Mutual Fund did cut positions in several large cap stocks in July 2023 including some trimming in Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance Ltd. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on the percentage increase in holdings included Suzlon Energy, Star Health & Allied Insurance, Jindal Steel & Power, Greenpanel Industries, and Indian Bank.

Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us now look at the shares that Aditya Birla Sun Life (ABSL) Mutual Fund bought in July 2023; predominantly in the large cap space. In terms of MOM percentage accretion, ABSL MF obviously added to its positions substantially in HDFC Bank due to the conversion of its holdings in HDFC Ltd post the merger being effective. In addition, ABSL MF also added to its positions in State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank. However, ABSL Mutual Fund stayed neutral on Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma in July 2023.

The fund cut positions quite aggressively in several large caps, especially Axis Bank and Infosys Ltd. In addition, the AMC also cut positions in Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro in July 2023. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage accretion in holdings included Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, SAIL, Star Health & Allied Insurance, Ujjivan Financial Services and BHEL.

Axis Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Let us now turn to the shares that Axis Mutual Fund traded in July 2023, across market cap classes. In terms of MOM percentage increase, Axis Mutual Fund added to its positions in Reliance Industries and TCS quite aggressively. Of course, the biggest accretion was its holdings in HDFC Bank, but that was more due to the merger of HDFC Ltd. The only stock that Axis Mutual Fund was neutral on in July 2023 was Pidilite Industries.

The real story was quite aggressive on the sell side. Axis Mutual Fund was an aggressive seller in July 2023 across Info Edge (Naukri), Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart) and Cholamandalam Investments & Finance. In addition           , Axis Mutual Fund also sold into Bajaj Finance, Nestle India and ICICI Bank. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on the percentage accretion in holdings were Polycab India, Indus Towers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Zomato and Tata Steel.

Kotak Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Here is a quick look at stocks that Kotak Mutual Fund bought in July 2023, across market cap classes. In terms of MOM percentage increase, Kotak Mahindra MF was extremely aggressive on HDFC Bank, again for the same reason as the other funds. In addition, Kotak MF added Maruti Suzuki and Infosys also to their buy list. Kotak Mutual Fund opted to remain neutral on two stocks in July 2023, viz Axis Bank Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd.

There were several stocks in which Kotak Mutual Fund cut positions aggressively including State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, and Reliance Industries. It also sold smaller quantities of ICICI Bank and Ultratech Cements Ltd. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage accretion in holdings included TVS Motors, Mphasis Ltd, Siemens Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and Tata Communications.

Mirae Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Mirae has seen one of the fastest growth in equity AUM in last few years. Among the frontline stocks that Mirae Mutual Fund bought aggressively in July 2023 were HDFC Bank (on account of merger of HDFC Ltd) as well as other stocks like HCL Technologies, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Mirae Asset AMC did not opt to stay neutral on any of the stocks in the month of July 2023. 

During the month of July 2023, Mirae MF sold aggressively in Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro. It also sold smaller quantities of Infosys, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India and NTPC Ltd. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage accretion in holdings included Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, Motherson Sumi Wiring, SRF Ltd, Samvardhana Motherson International, and Fortis Healthcare.

DSP Mutual Fund: equity portfolio churn in July 2023

Finally, let us look at what DSP Mutual Fund did in July 2023. The fund increased its holding in HDFC Bank substantially due to the merger impact and to a lesser extent in Samvardhana Motherson. It also added smaller quantities of Alkem Laboratories and IPCA Laboratories.. DSP Mutual Fund opted to remain neutral in ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and Emami Ltd in July 2023.

In terms of selling, DSP MF was a heavy seller in Infosys and State Bank of India, substantially reducing its positions in both the stocks. The fund’s top 5 stock picks for July 2023 based on percentage increase in holdings were Borosil Ltd, IIFL Finance Ltd, Adani Enterprises, Indus Towers and Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd.