NEW YORK, March 21, 2023: S&P Dow Jones Indices (“S&P DJI”) announced today preliminary S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, data for Q4 2022.
Historical data on S&P 500 buybacks are available at www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
- S&P 500 Q4 2022 buybacks were $211.2 billion, up 0.2% from Q3 2022’s $210.8 billion, as 2022 sets an annual record at $922.7 billion, up from 2021’s $881.7 billion
- Financials continued their pullback, which started in Q2, with Q4 2022 down 56.3% from Q4 2021, as 2022 was down 36.3%; Energy went up 403% in 2022
- On a proforma basis, the new net buyback 1% excise tax, which started in 2023, would have reduced 2022 operating earnings by 0.51%
Key Takeaways:
- Q4 2022 share repurchases were $211.2 billion, up 0.2% from Q3 2022’s $210.8 billion expenditure and down 21.8% from Q4 2021’s $270.1 billion.
- 318 companies reported buybacks of at least $5 million for the quarter, down from 319 in Q3 2022 and down from 325 in Q4 2021; 385 companies did some buybacks for the quarter, up from 384 in Q3 2022 and up from 383 in Q4 2021; 439 companies did some buybacks for the 12-months ending December 2022, up from 422 in the prior 2021 period.
- Buybacks remained top heavy with the top 20 companies accounting for 45.7% of Q4 2022 buybacks, which was below the historical average of 47.1%, and below the 49.0% level reported for Q3 2022; the pre-COVID historical average of 44.5%.
- For the 12-months ending December 2022, buybacks were $922.7 billion, setting a new annual record, and up 4.6% from 2021’s $881.7 billion, but down from the 12-month September $981.6 billion and down from the record $1.005 trillion posted for the June 2022 period.
- 19.2% of companies reduced share counts used for earnings-per-share (EPS) by at least 4% year-over-year, down from Q3 2022’s 21.2% and up from Q4 2021's 14.9%; for Q4 2022 152 issues increased their shares used for EPS over Q3 2022, and 291 reduced them.
- S&P 500 Q4 2022 dividends increased 4.1% to a record $146.1 billion from Q3 2022’s $140.3 billion and were 9.1% greater than the $133.9 billion in Q4 2021. For 2022, dividends set a record $564.6 billion payment, up 10.4% on an aggregate basis from 2021’s $511.2 billion.
- Total shareholders return of buybacks and dividends increased to $357.3 billion in Q4 2022, up 1.7% from Q3 2022’s $351.2 billion and down 11.6% from Q4 2021’s $404.0 billion.
- Total shareholder returns for 2022 increased to $1.487 trillion from the 2021 $1.393 trillion.
- On a proforma basis, the new 1% excise tax on net buybacks, which started in 2023, would have reduced the Q4 2022 S&P 500 operating earnings by 0.46% and as reported GAAP earnings by 0.58%, the proforma for 2022 was a 0.51% reduction for operating and a 0.58% reduction for as reported.
