- S&P 500 Q3 2022 buybacks were $210.8 billion, down 4.0% from Q2 2022’s $219.6 billion, as participation declined
- Financials increased 8.5% from Q2, but remained down 62.8% from Q3 2021, as Energy went up 64.5% from Q2 and up 640% from Q3 2021
- On a proforma basis, the new net buyback 1% excise tax, which starts in 2023, would have reducted Q3 2022 operating earnings by 0.46%
NEW YORK, December 19, 2022: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, data for Q3 2022.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
Key Takeaways:
- Q3 2022 share repurchases were $210.8 billion, down 4.0% from Q2 2022’s $219.6 billion expenditure and down 10.1% from Q3 2021’s $234.6 billion.
- 319 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, down from 331 in Q2 2022 and up from 309 in Q3 2021; 384 companies did some buybacks for the quarter, the same as in Q2 2022 and up from 371 in Q3 2021; 441 companies did some buybacks for the 12-months ending September 2022, up from 424 in the prior 2021 period.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 companies accounting for 49.0% of Q3 2022 buybacks, an increase from Q2 2022’s 46.8%, but down from the 53.8% in Q3 2021, and up from the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.
- For the 12-months ending September 2022, buybacks were $981.6 billion, down from the record $1.005 trillion posted for the June 2022 period, and up from the $742.2 billion spent in the September 2021 time period.
- 21.2% of companies reduced share counts used for earnings-per-share (EPS) by at least 4% year-over-year, up from Q2 2022’s 19.8% and Q3 2021’s 7.4%, and down from the pre-COVID Q3 2019 rate of 22.8%.
- S&P 500 Q3 2022 dividends decreased 0.2% to $140.3 billion from Q2 2022’s record $140.6 billion and were 7.9% greater than the $130.0 billion in Q3 2021. For the 12-months ending September 2022, dividends were a record $552.4 billion, up 10.7% on an aggregate basis from the 12-month’s September 2021’s $498.9 billion.
- Total shareholders return of buybacks and dividends declined to $351.2 billion in Q3 2022, down 2.5% from Q2 2022’s $360.2 billion and down 3.7% from Q3 2021’s $364.7 billion.
- Total shareholder returns for the 12-months ending September 2022 increased to a record $1.534 trillion from the September 2021 $1.241 trillion.
- On a proforma basis, the new 1% excise tax on net buybacks, which will start in 2023, would have reduced the Q3 2022 S&P 500 operating earnings by 0.46% and as reported GAAP earnings by 0.52%; for 2021 it would have reduced operating by 0.45% and as reported GAAP by 0.47%.
