1:10 Split, 3 Bonus: Mega Defence PSU BEL Stock To Turn Ex-Date For 150% Dividend; BUY For Rs 320-380 TP

Defence PSU giant, Bharat Electronics (BEL) will turn ex-date for its upcoming 150% dividend payout on March 11. This will be BEL's first interim dividend payout for the financial year 2024-25. Ahead of ex-date, BEL shares were a little over Rs 270 and are down by 7.4% year-to-date. 4 brokers have recommended a hold to buy on BEL shares with target price ranging from Rs 320 to Rs 380.

BEL Share Price:

On March 10, after market hours, BEL stock closed at Rs 272.25 apiece on BSE, down by 1.7% with a market cap of Rs 1,99,008.73 crore. At the current valuation, BEL is the second largest defence PSU stock after HAL.

The stock's 52-week high and low is at Rs 340.35 apiece and Rs 179.20 apiece. YTD, the stock is down by 7.4%, but have surged by over 28% in a year.

BEL Dividend:

The PSU giant is going to deliver up to Rs 1.50 dividend per share to its investors, with a face value of Rs 10 each for FY25. In percentage terms, the dividend payout will be of 150%.

For the same, BEL fixed Tuesday, the 11th of March, 2025 as the Record Date. The interim dividend will be paid within 30 days from the date of declaration.

As of now, BEL has delivered about 50 dividends since August 2003, as per Trendlyne data. Its current dividend yield is about 0.54%. Apart from hefty dividends, the company has also delivered bonus issues and stock splits.

So far, BEL has paid three bonuses so far. The first bonus issue was 2:1 in September 2015, while the second bonus was 1:10 and took place in September 2017. The last bonus issue was of 2:10 and it took place in September 2022.

BEL Stock Fundamentals:

As per Trendlyne data, following are the fundamentals for BEL stock analysis:

- Price to Earning Ratio is 39.88, lower than its sector PE ratio of 49.05.

- Stock Price rose 26.55% and underperformed its sector by 50.53% in the past year.

- Debt to Equity Ratio is zero as the company is debt-free.

- Return on Equity(ROE) for the last financial year was 24.4%, more than 20% in the last financial year, indicating an efficient use of shareholder's capital to generate profit.

- Mutual Fund Holding increased by 0.36% in the last quarter to 16.17.

- Promoter Share Holding stayed the same in the most recent quarter at 51.14%.

- Interest Coverage Ratio is 800.64, higher than 1.5. This means that it is able to meet its interest payments comfortably with its earnings (EBIT).

BUY BEL Stock:

Two brokerages Motilal Oswal and JM Financial have set Rs 360 target on BEL. Both the brokerages have suggested BUY!

Meanwhile, broker Geojit has reiterated positive outlook on BEL given the government's thrust in domestic manufacturing, increasing electronics share in defence, its market leadership position, a strong order backlog, and a healthy margin profile. It has also given BUY rating with target price of Rs 324.

Additionally, Antique Stock Broking has said, "BHE has over the years developed multiple levers of growth by a) Establishing robust infrastructure, b) Strong relations with government entities, c) Diversified into non-defence businesses to create new growth avenues, d) Installed new factories, and e) Increased focus on R&D. We thus maintain BUY rating on the stock with a TP of INR 376, valuing the company at a multiple of 40x its FY27E EPS."

About BEL:

Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) is a Navaratna enterprise with a 37% market share in Indian defence electronics. BEL's core capabilities are in radar & weapons systems, defence communication, & electronic warfare.