Public sector banks have seen deep cuts in consensus target prices by brokerages this year as the bad loan woes of the sector worsened during the fourth quarter.Punjab National Bank, which has been at the centre of a multi-crore fraud, posted the highest loss among PSU banks at Rs 12,283 crore in the fourth quarter. The bank has also seen the biggest reduction in consensus price target, by 51 per cent to Rs 98.7 from Rs 200.55 at the end of last year, Bloomberg data showed.Other lenders such as State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank have seen consensus price targets coming down by 10-45 per cent from the levels at the end of last year, according to the data. In contrast, most of the private sector lenders have seen consensus target prices rising by 0.6 per cent to 18.4 per cent, with Kotak Mahindra Bank leading the pack.Although PSU bank managements have been saying “the worst is over” on bad loan issues, analysts are of the view that the worst is not over yet for these lenders.“Over the last year PSU banks have said that the worst is over, but things have only gone from bad to worse. I don’t see the situation improving unless we see things moving on the ground,” said Gaurav Dua, head of research at BNP Paribas-owned Sharekhan. State-run banks collectively posted losses to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore in the quarter ended March, with only two banks — Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank — managing to post profits.

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