Shares of insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) surged nearly 5% to a one-month high on the BSE in early trade on Friday, 22 May, as investors cheered another strong quarterly show by the company and upward revision in earnings estimates and target prices for the PSU stock.
LIC share price rose to the day’s high of ₹839 as against the last closing price of ₹800.70, rising as much as 4.7%. However, for 2026 so far, the PSU stock remains 4% lower.
LIC Q4 Results
The insurance company last evening posted a 23% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profit to ₹23,420 crore in the March quarter, helped by core business and return on investment. LIC had posted a profit of ₹19,013 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
The total income of India’s biggest insurance firm rose to ₹2,53,592 crore from ₹2,22,805 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal year.
In the quarter under review, the value of new business (VNB) came in at ₹5890 crore, recording a strong growth of 85% sequentially and 67% yearly. The total annualised premium equivalent (APE) rose 53% quarter-on-quarter (Qo) and 22% YoY to ₹22,950 crore, beating brokerage estimates.
Meanwhile, LIC reported a VNB margin of 21.2% for FY26, implying a very strong 24.9% margin for Q4FY26. FY26 margin expanded 360bps YoY, with 300bps from a favourable product mix, positive 340bps from
economic assumptions and negative 280bps from a change in operating assumptions, said JM Financial. Higher ticket policies (with better persistency) had helped LIC report strong margins in FY26.
LIC shares: Time to buy, sell or hold?
Following the earnings announcement, JM Financial said diversifying product mix with improving margins augurs well for LIC, providing resilience to growth. It noted that LIC stock has remained rangebound as weak markets ensured that embedded value (EV) remained below September 2024 levels.
As macros improve, EV will grow hereon – with an improving growth profile – and consequently raised its FY27/FY28E VNB estimates by 15%+, with steady 10–12% growth and improving margin (22% by FY28E).
“With a solid outlook, we raise our target price to ₹960 (from ₹888 earlier), valuing the corporation at 0.6x Mar’28 EVPS of INR 1,647 (against ₹1,596 earlier),” said the brokerage. It has a ‘Buy’ rating on LIC stock.
Brokerage Systematix Equities also raised its target price on LIC stock to ₹970 (from ₹950 earlier), valuing the company at 0.6x on its FY28E EV per share of ₹1607 for an RoEV profile of 12.1%/12.1% for FY27E/FY28E.
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