Shares of Natco Pharma rose 1.12 percent on Friday, March 10, after the company informed that its board has approved a proposal to buy back up to 30 lakh shares at a maximum price of ₹700 per share, for an aggregate amount not exceeding ₹210 crore.
Natco Pharma is an India-based vertically integrated, research and development (R&D)-focused pharmaceutical company. The company is engaged in the business of pharmaceuticals, which comprises research and development, manufacturing and selling of bulk drugs and finished dosage formulations.
During Friday’s trade, the stock opened at a price of Rs. 566 per share, against the previous close of Rs. 561.15 per share and grew further during the early trading session to touch an intraday high of Rs. 567.45. However, it failed to hold onto this rally.
The stock was trading at ₹558.90, down by 0.40 percent, at 10:55 a.m. on the NSE.
The stock touched a 52-week high of Rs. 872.60 on March 10, 2022 and a 52-week low of Rs. 502 on February 02, 2023, indicating that at the current level, the stock is trading over 11 percent above its 52-week low and 36 percent below its 52-week high.
The stock has grown nearly 7 percent in the last one month. However, in the past six months, it has declined by almost 7 percent. The stock yielded a negative return of over 33 percent in the last one year.
On Wednesday, Natco Pharma reported through an official filing that the indicative maximum number of equity shares to be bought back would be 30 lakh shares at the maximum buyback price and for the maximum buyback size.
The actual number of equity shares bought back could exceed the indicative maximum buyback shares if the equity shares are bought back at a price below the maximum buyback price, it added.
The company will buy the shares from the shareholders excluding promoters, promoter groups and persons who are in control of the company, from the open market.
The promoters and promoter group of the company have announced a buyback, which would result in the public's stake reducing to 50.37 percent, while the promoters’ holding increasing to 49.63 percent.
Currently, the promoters and promoter group hold 8.91 crore shares, aggregating to 48.82 percent stake and the public holds 9.34 crore shares, translating to 51.18 percent stake.
In other news, the company has announced the launch of additional strengths for the generic version of Revlimid in 2.5 mg and 20 mg strengths in the United States through its marketing partner Teva Pharmaceuticals.
According to a MintGenie poll, 14 analysts on an average have a ‘BUY’ call on the stock.
