ITC shares which were riding the dividend wave this week, received another impetus on Tuesday when the government announced it is not looking to sell its stake in the company.

What Happened? ITC had declared an interim dividend of ₹6 per share for the financial year 2022-23 after approval from the company’s board at a meeting convened on Feb. 3.

The company had fixed Wednesday, Feb. 15 as the record date for the purpose of determining the entitlement of the members for interim dividends.

In layman’s terms, ‘ex-dividend’ describes a stock that is trading without the value of the next dividend payment. The ex-dividend date or “ex-date” is the day the stock starts trading without the value of its next dividend payment – which in ITC’s case here, is tomorrow.

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For the quarter that ended on December 2022 for FY23, the tobacco-to-hotel giant reported a 23.4% year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit to ₹5,007 crore from ₹4,057 crore, in the same quarter last year.

The company's revenue from operations was up 3.56% YoY at ₹19,021 crore in Q3FY23. Sequentially, net profit was up 8.4% and revenues 2.2%.

To add to its momentum on Tuesday, a MoneyControl report quoted Tuhin Kanta Pandey, a Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary stating that the government does not plan to sell its indirectly held stake in ITC for now.

Pandey was responding to a new report that the government was looking to sell its ITC stake to help meet its divestment target for FY23.

Price Action: ITC shares were trading 3.13% higher at ₹385.60, shortly before markets closed for trading on Tuesday.

See Also: ITC Shares Hit 52-Week High As Upbeat Q3 Numbers Give Another Boost