Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India were trading around ₹394.70 on the NSE on Friday afternoon, up 1.84 per cent from Thursday’s close of ₹387.55, with volumes crossing 269 lakh shares worth over ₹1,060 crore by around 1 pm. The stock touched an intraday high of ₹396.85, extending gains after the state-owned insurer posted its Q1FY27 results on Thursday, the last trading day, which showed a sharp improvement in profitability metrics.Sell-side interest in LIC has picked up, with buy-side order flow running at about 27 per cent against 73 per cent on the sell side, reflecting a cautious but incrementally positive sentiment in intraday trade.Motilal Oswal reiterated a Buy with a revised target of ₹480, citing 730 basis points of year-on-year expansion in Value of New Business margin to 22.9 per cent in Q1FY27. The brokerage raised its VNB margin estimates for FY27 and FY28 and expects operating Return on Embedded Value in the range of 11.5–12 per cent.Jefferies, which raised its target to ₹530, described the VNB as a roughly 30 per cent beat over its estimate and consensus, noting that LIC has narrowed the margin gap with private sector peers to 200–300 basis points. JM Financial maintained a Buy at ₹480, attributing the margin expansion to product mix benefits of about 650 basis points and assumption changes of about 290 basis points, partially offset by approximately 190 basis points of expense drag including a loss of GST input tax credit.Macquarie kept an Outperform rating with a ₹550 target, pointing to the recent government stake sale of 6.5 per cent removing a key stock overhang and calling the current valuation of 0.5 times FY27 Price to Embedded Value attractive. Bernstein, at a Marketperform with a ₹500 target, flagged the OFS as creating room for near-term upside.On the results, LIC reported net premium income of ₹1.27 trillion in Q1FY27, up 7 per cent year-on-year, with absolute VNB rising 61 per cent to ₹31 billion. Profit after tax climbed 23 per cent to ₹134.9 billion. Total AUM stood at ₹59.4 trillion, up 4 per cent year-on-year. Annualised Premium Equivalent growth was a more modest 8 per cent, with individual APE up 7 per cent and group APE up 10 per cent.The stock remains down about 10.85 per cent over the past year against an NSE 500 gain of 4.46 per cent, and trades well below its 52-week high of ₹468.48 hit in November 2025. With the government’s OFS overhang cleared and margin trajectory improving, analysts broadly see the risk-reward as favourable, though APE growth recovery and interest rate direction remain key variables to watch.Published on August 7, 2026