S&P 500 Q3 2021 buybacks were $234.6 billion, up 18.0% from Q2 2021, up 130.5% from Q3 2020, and up 5.2% from the prior Q4 2018 record of $223.0 billion
NEW YORK, December 21, 2021: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buyback, or share repurchases, data for Q3 2021.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
Key Takeaways:
- Q3 2021 share repurchases were $234.6 billion, increasing 18.0% from Q2 2021's $198.8 billion expenditure and up 130.5% from Q3 2020's $101.8 billion.
- 309 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, up from 294 in Q2 2021, and up from 190 in Q3 2020; 371 issues did some buybacks for the quarter, up from 360 in Q2 2020 and up from 290 in Q3 2020.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 issues accounting for 53.8% of Q3 2021 buybacks, down from Q2 2021's 55.7%, down from the dominating 77.4% in Q3 2020, and up from the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.
- For the 12-month September 2021 period, buybacks were $742.2 billion, a 21.8% increase from $609.4 billion in the 12-month June 2021 period, and up 30.0% from $570.8 billion in the 12-month September 2020 period.
- Buybacks are expected to continue at a higher level for Q4 2021 as companies continue to cover employee options with discretionary purchases resulting in an increase in share count reduction.
- 7.4% of companies reduced share counts used for EPS by at least 4% year-over-year, up from Q2 2021's 5.4%, and down from Q3 2020's 9.6% period, and significantly down from Q3 2019's 22.8% rate.
- S&P 500 Q3 2021 dividends increased 5.4% to a record $130.0 billion from Q2 2021's $123.4 billion and were 12.5% greater than the $115.5 billion in Q3 2020. For the 12-month September 2021 period, dividends were $498.9 billion, up 2.3% on an aggregate basis from the 12-month September 2020 period's $487.9 billion.
- Total shareholder return of buybacks and dividends was a record $364.7 billion in Q3 2021, up 13.2% from Q2 2021's $322.2 billion and up 67.8% from Q3 2020's $217.3 billion.
- Total shareholder return for the 12-month September 2021 period increased to $1.24 trillion from June 2021's $1.09 trillion and September 2020's $1.06 trillion.
