NEW YORK, December 19, 2023: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, data for Q3 2023.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500 .
- S&P 500 Q3 2023 buybacks were $185.6 billion, up 6.1% from Q2 2023’s $174.9 billion and down 12.0% from Q3 2022’s $210.8 billion
- The 12-month September 2023 expenditure of $787.3 billion was down 19.8% from the $981.6 billion expenditure of September 2022
- Financials pulled back again to $29.3 billion from $32.7 billion in Q2 2023 and $46.9 billion in Q1 2023; Information Technology ticked up to $48.6 billion from Q2’s $47.1 billion
- Energy pulled back to $16.2 billion, representing 8.7% of all buybacks; whereas the sector represented 4.4% of the market value and had four issues in the top 20 for the quarter
- The new net buyback 1% tax reduced Q3 2023 operating earnings by 0.39% (0.34% in Q2 2023) and As Reported GAAP by 0.41% (0.38%)
Key Takeaways:
- Q3 2023 share repurchases were $185.6 billion, up 6.1% from Q2 2023’s $174.9 billion expenditure and down 12.0% from Q3 2022’s $210.8 billion.
- 281 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, down from 304 in Q2 2023 and down from 319 in Q3 2022; 362 companies did some buybacks for the quarter, down from 367 in Q2 2023 and down from 384 in Q3 2022; 428 companies did some buybacks for the 12-months ending September 2023, down from 441 in the prior 12-month 2022 period.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 S&P 500 companies accounting for 50.9% of Q3 2023 buybacks, down from Q2 2023’s 52.0% but still above the historical average of 47.3%, and above the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%
- For the 12-months ending September 2023, buybacks were $787.3 billion, down from $981.6 billion for the prior 12-month September 2022 period.
- 13.5% of companies reduced share counts used for earnings per share (EPS) by at least 4% year-over-year, down from Q2 2023’s 16.3% and down from Q3 2022's 21.2%; for Q3 2023, 172 issues increased their shares used for EPS over Q2 2023 and 246 reduced them.
- S&P 500 Q3 2023 dividends increased 0.7% to $144.2 billion from the prior Q22023’s $143.2 billion and were 2.7% greater than the $140.3 billion in Q3 2022. For the 12-months ending in September 2023, dividends set a record $580.2 billion payment, up 5.0% on an aggregate basis from the 12-month September 2022’s $552.4 billion.
- Total shareholders return of buybacks and dividends increased to $329.8 billion in Q3 2023, up 3.7% from Q2 2023’s $318.1 billion and down 6.1% from Q3 2022’s $351.2 billion. Total shareholder returns for the 12-months ending September 2023 decreased to $1.367 trillion from the 12-month September 2022 $1.534 trillion.
- The new 1% tax on net buybacks, which started in 2023, reduced the Q3 2023 S&P 500 operating earnings by 0.39% and As Reported GAAP earnings by 0.42%; the proforma for full year 2022 was a 0.51% reduction for operating and a 0.58% reduction for as reported.
