PNB share price climbs almost 4% after Q4 results: Should you buy, sell, or hold the PSU bank stock?

PNB share price climbed nearly 4% in morning deals on the BSE on Wednesday, 6 May, a day after the PSU bank reported its March quarter (Q4FY26) results, posting healthy profit growth.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) shares opened at ₹110.05 against their previous close of ₹107.90 and climbed 3.6% to an intraday high of ₹111.75.

During market hours on Tuesday, 5 May, PNB reported a 14.41% year-on-year (YoY) rise in standalone profit to ₹5,225.11 crore for Q4FY26. In the same quarter last year, the PSU bank's profit was ₹4,567 crore. Operating profit rose by 10.7% YoY to ₹7,500 crore.

While the profit was up, PNB's net interest income (NII) and net interest margin (NIM) declined in Q4FY26.

NII declined 3.5% YoY to ₹10,380 crore. Domestic NIM stood at 2.61% compared to 2.96% YoY, while global NIM stood at 2.47% compared to 2.81% YoY.

In the previous session, the stock fell 0.7%, extending losses for the fifth consecutive session.

PNB shares: Should investors buy, sell, or hold after Q4 results?

Most brokerage firms have maintained their views on the stock after the March quarter earnings despite a slip in NII and NIM.

According to brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Financial Services, PNB reported a mixed quarter, with earnings beat led by controlled provisions and operational expenditure.

The brokerage firm highlighted that PNB's business growth remained modest, and management guided for a loan growth of nearly 12-13% in FY27.

"The bank guided for RoA of more than 1% for FY27, while credit cost is guided at less than 0.4%. We estimate FY27 RoA and RoE at nearly 1% and 14.8%, respectively," said Motilal Oswal, while retaining a buy call on the stock with a target price of ₹135, implying a 25% upside potential.

On the other hand, Elara Securities has retained its 'accumulate' rating on the stock, reducing the target price to ₹125 from ₹135, implying a 16% upside potential.

"PNB delivered softer Q4FY26, and the overall trends have been volatile. The investment argument thus relies more on recovery potential than on core delivery, which we still believe has some catch-up to do," said Elara.

"Following higher-than-expected NIM pressure, we prune our EPS by 2-3% for FY27E. After factoring in the uncertainty, we cut our target multiple to 0.9 times (from 1 times) FY28E P/B, leading to a lower target price of ₹125 from ₹135," said Elara.

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