Anyone that has owned stocks recently has likely noticed that share prices are not the only things that have been on the rise: dividends and buyback hikes have been a routine occurrence.
But what do the aggressive capital return programs say about the state of the bull market and the U.S. economy?
The Numbers
According to Factset, S&P 500 companies spent $564.7 billion on buybacks over the past 12 months, a year-over-year (Y/Y) increase of 18 percent. Overall, 362 out of the 500 companies (72 percent) participated in buybacks in 4Q14.
Big Spenders
Apple Inc. AAPL 0.14% led the buyback charge in Q4, spending $6.1 billion in share repurchases during the quarter, a $1 billion Y/Y increase.
Other companies that saw big Y/Y increases in buybacks in Q4 include Intel Corporation INTC 0.06% (+$3.5 billion), Johnson & Johnson JNJ 0.46% (+$2.3 billion), Wells Fargo & Co WFC 0.93% (+$1.9 billion) and Yahoo! Inc YHOO 0.44% (+$1.9 billion).
Over the past 12 months, Apple’s $56.9 billion in buyback spending has dwarfed Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM 0.44%‘s ($13.3 billion), which took…
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