India's third-largest IT software services exporter Wipro has issued 4.08 lakh equity shares in the past 15 days under employee stock options (ESOPs), according to the company's regulatory filings with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The shares have been issued under Restriction Stock Unit Plan (RSU) 2004, 2005 and 2007.
On May 11, the company issued 1,57,334 shares, followed by 52,581 shares on May 16 and 1,98,374 shares on May 19.
The company, it may be recalled, declared 1:1 bonus shares while announcing its Q4 and FY2017 results on April 25.
On Wednesday, Wipro shares closed flat at Rs. 525.90 apiece on the BSE. Over a six-month period, the stock has rallied 16.6 percent (Novemer 24 closing price - Rs 450).
The company is yet to publish its annual report for 2016-17 while Infosys has already put its annual report in public domain, publishing salary and other details of its top executives, including CEO Vishal Sikka and COO Pravin Rao.
In a related development, HCL Technologies informed the BSE that the company will be buying back 3.50 crore shares at Rs. 1,000 per share, a 17 percent premium to its Wednesday closing price of Rs. 855. The buyback would constitute about 2.48 percent of the company's total paid-up capital as of March 31, 2017. The total value of the buyback programme is Rs. 1,000 crore.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex closed 64 points lower at 30,301.
While Wipro announced a second buyback programme this year, TCS came out with its Rs. 16,000 crore offer earlier this year while Infosys has allocated Rs. 13,000 crore as part of its capital allocation policy for a probable share buyback programme or higher dividend.
"TCS will be buying back up to 5,61,40,351 equity shares for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs. 16,000 crore...being 2.85 percent of the total paid up equity share capital, at Rs. 2,850 per equity share," the company had said in February this year.
