On April 25, Zomato’s share price gained 8% in the early morning trade, succeeding a large block deal. About 1.5 crore shares, or 0.2% of equity costing Rs 88.2 crore, changed hands at an average price of Rs 59 per share. The particulars of the buyers and sellers were unknown.

Lately, global investment bank Citi offered a “buy” rating to Zomato, setting a target price of Rs 76, a potential 35% upside from the existing levels. Zomato and Swiggy have presented monetisation in the dining-out section, and it was optimistic in the medium term, Citi added.

Rahul Jain, Vice President and Researcher of Dolat Capital stated that in Q3, around a 10% decline was seen in the food delivery orders and the modest growth before the quarter.

The trend specified that after the COVID pandemic, consumers were changing their mindset and thus presenting a greater demand for the dine-out model. Besides, the consumer’s trend aligning their behaviour amid COVID-19 was seen over the previous two to three quarters and has been factored into the share price.

Regarding the investment standpoint, Jain does not consider this a vital angle to deliberate but also states that all small add up.

Domestic brokerage and research firm Motilal Oswal, which initiated attention on the stock with a “buy” rating and a target price of Rs 70, assume strong growth to be completed by the company, resulting profitable over FY25 despite the high competitive intensity.

Recently, the company’s 100-plus Blinkit stores were closed across Delhi-NCR as delivery executives disputed an alteration in payment structure. The stores have since recommenced operations, the company said.

At 11.58 am, the stock traded 5.45% higher on the NSE at Rs 59.05, while the benchmark Nifty rose 0.23% at 17,784.05.