Shares of business services provider Quess Corp rose more than 6% in morning trade on March 29 after a 4.5% stake in the company changed hands at an average price of Rs 377.5 per share.

The deal was done at a 10% premium to the previous close of Rs 343.35. The stock was trading at Rs 363.90 on the NSE at 9:45 am, up 5.9%.

It was unclear who the buyers and sellers were.

Meanwhile, CNBC-TV18 reported that Prem Watsa’s Fairbridge Capital Mauritius acquired a 4.5% stake through a reverse book-building process, bringing its total stake to 34.6%.

As of last December’s shareholding pattern, the promoters held 51.86% of the company’s shares, of which Chairman Ajit Isaac held 11.42%. Last year, he steadily increased his stake from 11.22% to 11.42%. Meanwhile, Fairbridge Capital Mauritius has a 29.61% stake.

The stock has been on a downtrend for the past year. It hit a 52-week high of Rs 728.30 on April 25, 2022, and has since lost 50%. The stock’s all-time high was in June 2018, above the Rs 1,200 level.

In Q3FY23, Quess Corp reported a 3.25% drop in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 85.63 crore. Meanwhile, operating income rose by 21.18% to Rs 4,465.55 crore in the quarter. The company’s operating margin remains in the 3-5% range.

According to Bloomberg, the company had six buy calls, one hold call, and one sell call. The consensus 12-month target price is Rs 505.17, representing an upside of 41% from the current market price.