Vedanta Share Price Rises As Board To Consider Fourth Interim Dividend For The Fiscal

Vedanta's share price rose nearly 2% in intraday trade on Wednesday after the company announced that its board would meet on Dec. 16 to consider and approve the fourth interim dividend for equity shareholders.

The record date for determining eligible shareholders for the dividend has been set for Dec. 24, the company stated in an exchange filing. It added that in compliance with SEBI regulations, the trading window for designated persons will remain closed from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18.

Vedanta has already issued three interim dividends this financial year, including Rs 20 per share on Sept. 10, Rs 4 per share on Aug. 2, and Rs 11 per share in May.

Separately, the company recently received two orders from the office of GST & Central Excise, imposing a penalty of Rs 1.71 crore along with a tax demand and applicable interest. The issue pertains to the carryforward of cenvat credit on capital goods and availing transitional credit under Tran-1 during fiscal 2018.

Earlier this month, Vedanta announced plans to invest $2 billion to develop copper-processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. The project includes constructing a smelter and refinery with an annual capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes and a facility to produce up to 300,000 tonnes of copper rods annually, a key material for electric cables.

Vedanta shares hit a new life high on Wednesday after breaking a key resistance level as sentiment remain upbeat post multiple investment commitments made by the Anil Agarwal-led conglomerate. 

Vedanta share price rose as much as 1.86% during the day to Rs 523.90 apiece on the NSE. It was trading 1.11% higher at Rs 520.05 apiece, compared to an 0.01% decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 as of 10:05 a.m. 

It has risen 110.22% in the last 12 months and 100.6% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 4.1 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 75.45.

Nine out of the 15 analysts tracking the mining company have a 'buy' rating on the stock, five recommend a 'hold' and one suggests a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The 12-month analysts' consensus target price on the stock is Rs 525.47, implying an upside of 1.4%.