Apple dominates buybacks as S&P 500 share repurchases jump by nearly fifth in Q4

investing.com:

Investing.com — Stock buybacks among S&P 500 companies climbed by nearly a fifth in the fourth quarter from the prior quarter, with Apple leading the way, buying $22.7 billion of its stock during the quarter, the ninth highest level of share repurchases in S&P 500 history. 

S&P 500 Q4 2023 buybacks were $219.1 billion, up 18.0% from Q3 2023’s $185.6 billion and up 3.7% from Q4 2022’s $211.2 billion, S&P Global said in a press release Monday. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) spent $22.7 billion on share repurchases, up from Q3 2023’s $21.3 billion.

But for 2023, a year in which many megacap companies have focused on boosting operational efficiency and keeping costs lows, Apple's $83.9 billion of stock buybacks is down from 2022’s $94.1 billion.

Akin to the broader market melt-up, the largest buybacks were seen among the biggest companies in the S&P 500, with the top 20 making up about 54.1% of Q4 2023 buybacks, the report said. 

Other 'magnificent 7' companies also made the top list for stock buybacks, with Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) spending $16.2 billion in Q4, up from the $15.8 billion in Q3 2023 and boosted 2023 hare repurchases to $61.5 billion from $59.3 billion a year earlier.

Chip stocks were also in the ascendency, Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) was a notable for a jump in stock repurchase, spending about $8.3 billion in Q4, up from $0.6 billion in Q3 2023; the 2023 expenditure was $14.5 billion versus 2022’s $6.9 billion.

While the big stock buybacks for S&P 500 companies improved their share prices — as the number of outstanding shares declined — the boost to earnings was lukewarm. Just 12.3% of the companies announcing buybacks saw a «significant increase (of at least 4%) in their EPS due to share count reduction,