Hindustan Unilever Ltd's (HUL) shares declined as much as by 4.35 percent to trade at Rs 500.40 on Monday. The stock under-performed the sector by 1.6 percent and traded lower than 5 day, 20 day, 50 day and 100 day moving average.

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HUL reported its Q2FY19 results on Friday after market closed. For the quarter ended September 30 2018, the company reported 10 percent domestic volume growth beating analyst expectations of 8-9 percent.

FMCG giant's operating margins at 21.9 percent were higher than the CNBC-TV18 Poll of 21.7 percent. Even the reported net profit of Rs 1,525 crore was above the CNBC-TV18 Poll of Rs 1,452 crore.

Brokerage firm, CLSA, has cut price target to Rs 1,750 from Rs 1,950, while maintaining "outperform" rating.

The recent surge in crude oil prices and rupee depreciation raises concern on HUL’s margins, giving it the benefit of doubt, said CLSA.

Jefferies said Q2 results are ahead of estimates, but rising raw material prices and bond yields pose a downside risk to earnings and valuations.

Sixteen of 39 brokerages covering the stock rate it “buy” or higher, 15 “hold” and eight “sell” or lower; their median price target is Rs 1,748.

Shares of HUL traded at Rs 1,522, down by 3.03 percent at 1.35 PM on the NSE. Benchmark indexes, however, traded positive with the Nifty at 10,518.55, higher by 46.05 points or 0.44 percent.

The Sensex was trading at 34,804.50, rising by 71 points or 0.20 percent.

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(With inputs from Reuters)