Shares of HCL Technologies rallied on the stock exchanges on Friday amid heavy volumes on reports that its promoters may buy up 45 lakh shares through a block deal.
The scrip rose nearly 5 per cent in intra-day trades on the BSE to touch a high of Rs 1,283.40. It later gave up some of these gains to close at Rs 1,265.10 — a rise of 3.08 per cent or Rs 37.80 over the last close.
Around 6.11 lakh shares were transacted in the exchange compared with a two-week average of 2.90 lakh shares.
Similarly, on the NSE, the scrip ended nearly three per cent higher on volumes of over 1.59 crore shares.
The upmove came on the back of a CNBC-Awaaz report on Thursday about the promoters of the IT services firm purchasing 45 lakh shares through the open market. They currently hold a stake of 60.33 per cent in the company. Though stock exchange data did not indicate any such purchases on Friday, it may happen over the next few days.
HCL Technologies posted a 3.7 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,263 crore in the second quarter ended September 30 against Rs 3,146 crore in the same period a year ago.
Its consolidated revenue from operations rose 11 per cent to Rs 20,655 crore during the period from Rs 18,594 crore in the same quarter of 2020-21.
Analysts at Motilal Oswal said in a note that HCL Technologies should deliver dollar revenue growth of 13.1 per cent over 2021-23.
The brokerage added that its acquisition intensity in the past has led to lower shareholder payouts compared with its larger peers.
However, the company has been improving its payouts and has recently announced a dividend payout policy., which implies a distribution of at least 75 per cent of net income over a five-year period, the analysts noted.
``The management has revised its quarterly dividends to Rs 10 per share (from Rs 6 per share) for 2021-22. The 75 per cent payout ratio would be the highest in the past 15 years. We see this commitment as a strategic shift to focus on organic growth and limit inorganic investments to bolt-on and capability-based acquisitions,’’ they said.