But has the stock managed healthy returns in the previous four instances of announcing its buyback? Here’s a look at the past trends
October 2022
In its last announced buyback in 2022, Infosys decided to spend up to ₹9,300 crore to repurchase shares from the open market.On October 10 that year, Infosys had announced that it will be considering a share buyback. In the one week post that announcement, the stock fell 4.7%, but recovered over the subsequent weeks, as by November 10, the returns stood at a positive 3.7%. Shares then entered consolidation mode thereafter, and therefore, the three-month returns from the date of the announcement appear flat.
| 2022 Buyback Period | Returns (%) |
| One Week | -4.7 |
| One Month | 3.4 |
| Three Months | 0.7 |
April 2021
In April 2021, the company announced that it will be buying back its shares from the open market, by spending ₹9,200 crore.
In the one week after the exchange filing, the stock went up by 2.3%, but declined over the subsequent periods, ending with negative returns at the end of three months.
| 2021 Buyback Period | Returns (%) |
| One Week | 2.3 |
| One Month | -1.8 |
| Three Months | -0.8 |
January 2019
The smallest among the four prior Infosys buybacks, the company announced that it will be buying back shares from the open market, with a total outgo of ₹8,260 crore.
The stock did not do much in the first week or month after the buyback announcement, but did well by the end of the three-month period, returning healthy gains to its shareholders.
| 2021 Buyback Period | Returns |
| One Week | -0.8% |
| One Month | 1.7% |
| Three Months | 7.1% |
August 2017
Infosys had announced its first share buyback as a public company back in August 2017. The company announced a buyback worth ₹13,000 crore, which would was carried out via the tender offer route.
In this instance, the stock had no significant trend, ending with subdued returns over a three-month period.
Infosys has very little promoter holding (14.6%) as of the June quarter, and therefore, a significant buyback would also not move the needle significantly as the company has a very large free float.
Brokerage firm Morgan Stanley wrote in its note that the company is likely to announce a buyback between ₹10,000 crore to ₹14,000 crore, which could be between 18% to 25% higher than the current market price.
Shares of Infosys are trading 4.6% higher at ₹1,499.5. The stock is still down 20% so far on a year-to-date basis.
