NEW YORK, June 14, 2023: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, data for Q1 2023.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
- S&P 500 Q1 2023 buybacks were $215.5 billion, up 2.1% from Q4 2022’s 211.2 billion and down 23.3% from the Q1 2022 $281.0 billion record, as the 12-month March 2023 expenditure of $857.2 billion was down from the $922.7 billion paid in fiscal 2022
- Financials significantly increased to $46.9 billion, as the sector returned to the buyback market, and was higher than Information Technology’’s $45.9 billion the first time since Q3 2017
- Energy slightly decreased, spending $19.3 billion, representing 9.0% of all buybacks, whereas the sector represented 4.6% of the market value
- The new net buyback 1% excise tax, which started in 2023, reduced Q1 2023 operating earnings by 0.45% and As Reported GAAP by 0.49%
Key Takeaways:
- Q1 2023 share repurchases were $215.5 billion, up 2.1% from Q4 2022’s $211.2 billion expenditure and down 23.3% from the record Q1 2022’s $281.0 billion.
- 358 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, up from 318 in Q1 2022 and down from 374 in Q1 2022; 390 companies did some buybacks for the quarter, up from 385 in Q4 2022 and down from 395 in Q1 2022; 436 companies did some buybacks for the 12-months ending March 2023, up from 430 in the prior 2022 period.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 companies accounting for 48.6% of Q1 2023 buybacks, above the 45.7% of Q4 2022, above the historical average of 47.1%, and above the 42.1% level reported for Q1 2022; in addition, above the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.
- For the 12-months ending March 2023, buybacks were $857.2 billion, down from the record fiscal $922.7 billion of 2022, down from the record 12-month June 2022 $1.005 trillion, the only 12-month trillion-dollar expenditure, and down from the 12-month March 2022 $984.6 billion.
- 18.5% of companies reduced share counts used for earnings-per-share (EPS) by at least 4% year-over-year, down from Q4 2022’s 19.4% and up from Q1 2022's 17.6%; for Q1 2023 165 issues increased their shares used for EPS over Q4 2022, and 270 reduced them.
- S&P 500 Q1 2023 dividends increased 0.5% to a record $146.8 billion from the prior Q4 2022’s record of $146.1 billion and were 6.7% greater than the $137.6 billion in Q1 2022. For the 12-months ending in March 2023, dividends set a record $573.7 billion payment, up 9.3% on an aggregate basis from March 2022’s $524.9 billion.
- Total shareholders return of buybacks and dividends increased to $362.3 billion in Q1 2023, up 1.4% from Q4 2022’s $357.3 billion and down 13.4% from Q1 2022’s $418.6 billion. Total shareholder returns for the 12-months ending March 2023 decreased to $1.431 trillion from the 12-month March 2022’s $1.510 trillion.
- The new 1% excise tax on net buybacks, which started in 2023, reduced the Q1 2023 S&P 500 operating earnings by 0.45% and As Reported GAAP earnings by 0.49%, the proforma for full year 2022 was a 0.51% reduction for operating and a 0.58% reduction for as reported.
