- S&P 500 Q2 2023 buybacks were $174.9 billion, down 18.8% from Q1 2023’s $215.5 billion and down 20.4% from the Q2 2022 $219.6 billion
- The 12-month June 2023 expenditure of $812.5 billion was down 19.2% from the record $1.005 trillion expenditure of June 2022
- Financials pulled back to $32.7 billion after increasing to $46.9 billion in Q1 2023 from their 36.3% pullback in 2022 over concerns in banking and regulation; Information Technology regained the lead spending $47.1 billion in Q2 2023
- Energy spent $18.3 billion, representing 10.4% of all buybacks, whereas the sector represented 4.1% of the market value, with Exxon and Chevron both placing on the top five list for the quarter
- The new net buyback 1% excise tax, which started in 2023, reduced Q2 2023 operating earnings by 0.34% (0.45% in Q1 2023) and As Reported GAAP by 0.38% (0.49%)
NEW YORK, September 12, 2023: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, data for Q2 2023.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
Key Takeaways:
- Q2 2023 share repurchases were $174.9 billion, down 18.8% from Q1 2023’s $215.5 billion expenditure and down 20.4% from Q2 2022’s $219.6 billion.
- 304 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, down from 358 in Q1 2023 and down from 331 in Q2 2022; 367 companies did some buybacks for the quarter, down from 390 in Q1 2023 and down from 384 in Q2 2022; 434 companies did some buybacks for the 12-months ending June 2023, down from 437 in the prior 2022 period.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 companies accounting for 52.0% of Q2 2023 buybacks, above the 48.6% of Q1 2023, above the historical average of 47.2%, and above the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.
- For the 12-months ending June 2023, buybacks were $812.5 billion, down from the record $1.005 trillion for the prior 12-month June 2022 period.
- 3% of companies reduced share counts used for earnings-per-share (EPS) by at least 4% year-over-year, down from Q1 2023’s 18.5% and down from Q2 2022's 19.8%; for Q2 2023 165 issues increased their shares used for EPS over Q1 2023, and 275 reduced them.
- S&P 500 Q2 2023 dividends decreased 2.4% to $143.2 billion from the prior Q1 2023’s record of $146.8 billion and were 1.9% greater than the $140.6 billion in Q2 2022. For the 12-months ending in June 2023, dividends set a record $576.4 billion payment, up 6.2% on an aggregate basis from the 12-month June 2022’s $542.1 billion.
- Total shareholders return of buybacks and dividends decreased to $318.1 billion in Q2 2023,2% from Q1 2023’s $362.3 billion and down 11.7% from Q2 2022’s $360.2 billion. Total shareholder returns for the 12-months ending June 2023 decreased to $1.389 trillion from the 12-month June 2022 record $1.547 trillion.
- The new 1% excise tax on net buybacks, which started in 2023, reduced the Q2 2023 S&P 500 operating earnings by 0.34% and As Reported GAAP earnings by 0.38%; the proforma for full year 2022 was a 0.51% reduction for operating and a 0.58% reduction for as reported.
