- Q4 2019 share repurchases reached $181.6 billion – 3.2% higher than Q3 2019, and 18.6% lower than the record Q4 2018.
- Apple continued to lead, spending $22.1 billion – up from last quarter’s $17.6 billion, and ranking as the 3rd highest expenditure historically.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 companies accounting for 55.0% of the total, up from Q3 2019’s 50.4%, and the highest since the 59.8% in Q1 2010.
- Buybacks for the full year 2019 were $728.7 billion – down 9.6% from the record $806.4 billion set in 2018.
- Buyback impact remained broad as 20.8% of companies reduced their share count by at least four percent and increased their EPS.
- 2020 has started to feel the COVID-19 impact on buybacks and dividends painting a different picture going forward.
NEW YORK, March 24, 2020: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today that preliminary Q4 2019 S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, were $181.6 billion – a 3.2% increase over Q3 2019’s $175.9 billion, but down 18.6% from Q4 2018’s $223.0 billion record.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
Key Takeaways:
- Companies posted their second consecutive quarter of increased buyback expenditures after two quarters of declines from the record Q4 2018 expenditures. For the quarter, S&P 500 companies spent $181.6 billion on buybacks, up 3.2% from their Q3 2019 $175.9 billion mark, but down 18.6% from last year’s record Q4 2018 expenditure of $223.0 billion.
- For the full year 2019, companies spent $728.7 billion, down 9.6% from the record 2018 $806.4 billion ($519.4 billion in 2017), and ranking second highest in index history. The cumulative rolling four quarters of repurchases continued to impact EPS, as 20.8% of the issues reduced share counts by at least 4% year-over-year, down from Q3 2019’s 22.8%, but up from the 18.7% of Q4 2018.
- S&P 500 Q4 2019 dividends set a quarterly record, increasing to $126.4 billion, up 5.5% from Q4 2018’s $119.8 billion; for 2019, dividends set a record with $485.5 billion, up 6.4% from the prior record, set in 2018, at $456.3 billion.
- Total shareholder return of buybacks and dividends for the quarter came in at $307.9 billion, up 3.0% from the Q3 2019 period expenditure of $299.0 billion and down 10.2% from the record $342.8 billion reported for Q4 2018.
- Total shareholder return for 2019 declined to $1.214 trillion from 2018’s record $1.263 trillion.
- Buybacks continued to be top heavy, with the top 20 issues accounting for 55% of the expenditures, up from last quarter’s 50.4% and the largest since the 59.8% in Q1 2010. The ten-year average is 44.9%.
“After lowering expenditures in the first half of 2019 from their tax-inspired record-setting buying spree of 2018, companies increased their share repurchases in Q3 by 6.3% and in Q4 by 3.2%,” said Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “While the levels are still shy of the 2018 record, they are significantly higher than the pre-2018 levels, and continued to surpass the hoped for $170 billion mark, which was seen as the level needed to support stocks and continue reduced share count EPS growth.”
