1:10 Split, 3 Bonus; Zero-Debt Defence PSU BEL Fixes Record Date For 150% Dividend; BUY For Rs 376 Target

Bharat Electronics Share Price: Defence PSU giant, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is a zero-debt company. This heavyweight large-cap has declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.50 per share or 150%, while the record date is set for next week. BEL has also bagged new orders worth Rs 557 crore. Ahead of the dividend payout, two brokers namely Antique Stock Broking and Geojit have recommended buying BEL shares with the highest target at Rs 376.

BEL Share Price:

After the market hours of March 7th, BEL stock price closed at Rs 276.20 apiece, with market cap of Rs 2,01,896.09 crore. The gains were about 1.2%. During the trading week from March 3rd to 7th, BEL shares zoomed by more than 11% on NSE, emerging among top performing defence stocks. In a year, the stock advanced nearly 30%. However, BEL's all-time returns are a whopping 125,445.45%.

BEL Interim Dividend:

The company announced an interim dividend of Rs 1.50 per share, having a face value of Re 1 each, for financial year 2024-25. In percentage terms, the dividend payout will be of 150%.

For the same, the company 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.

So far, 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.

Notably, 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.

Additionally, BEL stock price has split only once and in the ratio of 1:10. The first ever stock split was carried out in March 2017, where its face value of Rs 10 each was trimmed to Re 1 each.

BEL New Order:

The Navratna defence PSU has secured additional orders worth Rs. 577 Crore since the last disclosure on 20 February 2025.

In its regulatory filing, BEL said, major orders include airborne electronic warfare products, advanced composite f communication system for submarine, doppler weather radar, train communication system, radar upgradation, spares, services etc. With these, the total accumulated orders received by BEL during the current financial year stand at Rs.13,724 Crore."

BUY BEL Share Price:

Geojit and Antique Stock Broking are the latest to recommend BUY on BEL.

In its report, Geojit said, "We reiterate our 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. Given the upgrade in our estimates and sharp correction in stock prices, we value BEL at P/E of 35x as we roll forward to FY27E EPS and maintain BUY rating while also reiterating our target price of Rs.324."

Meanwhile, Antique's note added BEL has been one of the most consistent performers in the defence sector with solid track record of delivering 12%/ 19%/ 16% revenue/ EBIDTA/ PAT CAGR over FY14-24. Order inflow during the same period reported a robust 24% CAGR, leading to an all-time high order backlog of INR 760 bn at the end of FY24.

Antique's note said, "We have built in 15%/ 19%/ 21% revenue/ EBIDTA/ PAT CAGR over FY24-27E, similar to what the company has been consistently delivering over the last ten years. Recent stock price correction along with the broader sector and market correction offers a good entry point to own a quality defence stock with market leadership position in the defence electronics segment."

Furthermore, Antique believes BEL is all set to deliver strong double-digit earnings growth (21% CAGR) over FY24-27E and maintain its stance on the long term prospects of BHE as it has over the years developed multiple levers of growth by a) Establishing robust infrastructure, b) Strong relations with government entities, and c) Diversified into non-defence businesses to create new growth avenues.

Lastly, Antique said, "We thus maintain BUY rating on the stock with a target price of INR 376 (40x FY27E EPS)."

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.