Shares of major cement companies were under pressure on Thursday after Nomura downgraded Ambuja Cements, ACC, and Shree Cement to 'neutral' from 'buy'. The brokerage also revised the target price of the three stocks. While it raised the 12-month target of Shree Cement and ACC, Nomura slashed the target price of Ambuja Cements.

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ACC received an upwards revision to Rs 1,750 per share from Rs 1,700 earlier, while Shree Cement target price was raised to Rs 21,500 from Rs 18,000 earlier. Whereas, the target price for Ambuja was revised downwards to Rs 240 from Rs 295.

Ambuja Cement, ACC, and Shree Cements fell in the range of 0.5-2 percent during the day. Other cement stocks including Grasim, JK Cement, Dalmia Bharat, and JK Lakshmi Cement were also down between 1.68-2.53 percent in intra-day deals.

At 1:45 pm, Ambuja Cements was trading 1.16 percent lower at Rs 218. ACC was quoted 0.61 percent lower at 1,569.45 while Shree Cement was down 0.28 percent at 20,488.90. Nifty50 was trading 0.45 percent lower at 11,852.75.

Nomura stated that Ambuja may see the lowest growth among large-cap peers and the company appears to be least geared for an upcycle. The brokerage expects a modest 4.2 percent volume CAGR over the next two years.

Meanwhile, for ACC, the brokerage expects a 27 percent earnings CAGR over 2 years but may be at risk if the price increase is lower.

Earnings outlook look good for Shree Cements, however, valuations are becoming expensive, it added.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank expects cement volume to decline by 2-3 percent, with ACC and Ultratech remaining its top picks in the sector.

Moreover, cement prices continue to remain under scrutiny, as Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari, stated that strict action will be taken against cement companies if they formed cartels to increase cement prices.

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