MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL INC NEW YORK, March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today that preliminary results show that S&P 500(®) fourth quarter 2014 stock buybacks, or share repurchases, decreased 8.7% to $132.6 billion down from the $145.2 billion spent on share repurchases during the third quarter of this year. Historical S&P 500 buyback data can be found at: www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.
According to S&P Dow Jones Indices:
-- The $132.6 billion Q4 spend represents a 2.5% increase from the $129.4
billion spent during the fourth quarter of 2013.
-- For fiscal year 2014, S&P 500 issues increased their buyback
expenditures by 16.3% to $553.3 billion from $475.6 billion posted in
2013.
-- The high mark was reached in 2007, when companies spent $589.1 billion.
-- The recession low point was $137.6 billion, recorded in 2009.
"Share count reduction continues to be the market takeaway," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "It has significantly increased earnings-per-share (EPS) for 20% of the index issues in each of the past four quarters. While fourth quarter expenditures were down 8.7%, the number of issues reducing their share count by at least 4% year-over-year, and therefore increasing their EPS by at least that amount, continues to be in the 20% area - a significant level."
Additionally, S&P Dow Jones Indices data shows:
-- More issues reduced their share count this quarter than last, with 308
doing so in Q4, up from 257 in Q3 and 276 in Q4 2013.
-- Significant changes (generally considered 1% or greater for the quarter)
continued to strongly favor reductions, and also increased, as 117
issues reduced their share count by at least 1%, compared to last
quarter's 101 and the 112 which did so in Q4 2013.
-- Share reduction change impacts of at least 4% (Q4 2014 over Q4 2013),
which can be seen in EPS comparisons, were flat at 99 in Q4 2014 from
Q3, but up from the 83 posted in Q4 2013.
Total Shareholder Returns:
Silverblatt also notes that total shareholders' returns, through regular cash dividends, as well as buybacks, continues to increase and set records. For the year ended December 2014, buyback and dividend expenditures combined, reached a new record high of $903.7 billion, up from the $787.4 billion spent in 2013.
"While the $350.4 billion in dividends for the year set a record, the $553.3 billion in buybacks, which represents 61.2% of the total shareholder return, failed to reach the 2007 buyback bonanza heyday high of $589.1 billion," comments Silverblatt.
Silverblatt stated that issues had a record amount of cash reserves at the end of 2014, and that Q1 2015 cash dividends are on its way to post yet another record quarter, after its record 2014 payment.
"The shareholder return trend has been strong and appears to be increasing," adds Silverblatt. "Based on the recent bank declarations 2015 may easily be another record year for dividends, potentially, its fifth consecutive annual double-digit gain. Depending on the market, it may be a record year for buybacks as well."
Sectors:
On a sector basis, Information Technology continued to dominate buybacks, although its percentage of the Q4 2014 buybacks declined to 24.2% from last quarter's 29.6%. The decline of $10.9 billion can be attributed to Apple, which purchased $5 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $17 billion in the third quarter.
For the year, Apple led the Index with a record setting $45 billion in purchases, up 73.5% from its $25.9 billion 2013 purchases. Exxon Mobile came in a distant second, at $13.2 billion, down 17.6% from its 2013 $16 billion expenditure, with Intel coming in third, spending $10.8 billion, significantly up from its 2013 $2.1 billion expenditure.
For more information, please visit www.spdji.com
S&P 500, $ U.S. BILLIONS, preliminary values in bold
PERIOD MARKET OPERATING AS REPORTED DIVIDEND & DIVIDENDS
VALUE EARNINGS EARNINGS DIVIDENDS BUYBACKS DIVIDEND BUYBACK BUYBACK & BUYBACKS
$ BILLIONS $ BILLIONS $ BILLIONS $ BILLIONS $ BILLIONS YIELD YIELD YIELD $ BILLION
12/30/2014 $18,245 $262.30 $243.43 $92.80 $132.63 1.92% 3.03% 4.95% $225.43
9/30/2014 $17,519 $262.92 $244.00 $89.02 $145.19 1.96% 3.14% 5.10% $234.22
6/30/2014 $17,404 $260.50 $240.96 $86.65 $116.17 1.91% 3.06% 4.98% $202.82
3/31/2014 $16,700 $243.67 $221.82 $81.96 $159.28 1.93% 3.20% 5.14% $241.24
12/31/2013 $16,495 $252.10 $236.31 $84.98 $129.41 1.89% 2.88% 4.77% $214.40
9/30/2013 $14,960 $239.50 $219.13 $79.26 $128.16 2.05% 2.98% 5.03% $207.42
6/30/2013 $14,310 $234.84 $221.56 $76.67 $118.05 2.07% 2.94% 5.02% $194.72
3/31/2013 $13,979 $229.57 $215.76 $70.86 $99.97 2.06% 2.97% 5.02% $170.82
12/31/2012 $12,742 $206.84 $184.50 $79.83 $99.15 2.20% 3.13% 5.33% $178.98
9/30/2012 $12,881 $214.58 $189.64 $69.48 $103.72 2.07% 3.01% 5.08% $173.20
6/30/2012 $12,303 $229.69 $195.27 $67.31 $111.75 2.08% 3.27% 5.35% $179.05
3/31/2012 $12,730 $219.09 $208.15 $64.07 $84.29 1.95% 3.14% 5.09% $148.37
12/31/2011 $11,385 $214.83 $186.85 $65.89 $87.59 2.11% 3.56% 5.67% $153.47
09/30/2011 $10,303 $230.30 $206.08 $59.20 $118.41 2.22% 3.92% 6.14% $177.61
6/30/2011 $12,021 $226.29 $202.44 $59.03 $109.24 1.84% 3.04% 4.88% $168.27
3/31/2011 $12,068 $205.34 $195.15 $56.08 $89.84 1.76% 2.76% 4.52% $145.91
12/31/2010 $11,430 $199.40 $187.67 $54.85 $86.36 1.80% 2.61% 4.42% $141.21
09/30/2010 $10,336 $195.28 $176.80 $51.26 $79.56 1.94% 2.52% 4.45% $130.81
06/30/2010 $9,323 $189.04 $178.00 $50.44 $77.64 2.10% 2.31% 4.41% $128.08
03/31/2010 $10,560 $175.00 $157.85 $49.28 $55.26 1.83% 1.54% 3.36% $104.54
12/31/2009 $9,928 $152.77 $135.14 $49.04 $47.82 1.97% 1.39% 3.36% $96.86
09/30/2009 $9,337 $139.37 $130.37 $47.21 $34.85 2.24% 1.48% 3.71% $82.06
06/30/2009 $8,045 $120.85 $118.22 $47.63 $24.20 2.77% 2.40% 5.17% $71.83
03/31/2009 $6,928 $87.78 $65.29 $51.73 $30.78 3.43% 3.70% 7.13% $82.51
12/31/2008 $7,852 -$0.78 -$202.11 $62.19 $48.12 3.15% 4.33% 7.48% $110.31
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P 500 SECTOR BUYBACKS
SECTOR $ MILLIONS Q4,'14 Q3,'14 Q4,'13 2014 2013 5-YEARS 2007 YR Q2,'09 Q3,'07
(high) (low) (high)
Consumer Discretionary $22,841 $21,327 $18,080 $81,747 $70,226 $333,805 $80,435 $2,350 $34,902
Consumer Staples $11,817 $9,970 $11,309 $42,347 $42,822 $233,872 $51,589 $4,013 $16,088
Energy $10,311 $8,810 $12,236 $40,928 $40,950 $183,777 $67,031 $5,343 $14,717
Financials $19,371 $20,441 $16,077 $75,404 $58,547 $254,629 $107,328 $1,170 $27,762
Healthcare $15,104 $13,930 $14,525 $60,069 $61,959 $296,227 $63,775 $4,699 $18,660
Industrials $15,535 $16,498 $16,230 $66,718 $53,735 $214,618 $54,806 $1,681 $17,521
Information Technology $32,046 $42,906 $34,528 $154,703 $121,448 $518,192 $121,974 $4,757 $23,904
Materials $5,007 $10,866 $3,899 $28,179 $10,306 $56,320 $13,586 $159 $6,503
Telecommunication Services $92 $286 $2,228 $2,267 $14,866 $30,991 $17,627 $13 $3,947
Utilities $511 $158 $300 $913 $728 $9,239 $10,963 $10 $7,943
TOTAL $132,634 $145,193 $129,411 $553,275 $475,587 $2,131,670 $589,113 $24,195 $171,947
SECTOR BUYBACK MAKEUP % Q4,'14 Q3,'14 Q4,'13 2014 2013 5-YEARS 2007 YR Q2,'09 Q3,'09
Consumer Discretionary 17.22% 14.69% 13.97% 14.78% 14.77% 15.66% 13.65% 9.71% 20.30%
Consumer Staples 8.91% 6.87% 8.74% 7.65% 9.00% 10.97% 8.76% 16.59% 9.36%
Energy 7.77% 6.07% 9.45% 7.40% 8.61% 8.62% 11.38% 22.08% 8.56%
Financials 14.60% 14.08% 12.42% 13.63% 12.31% 11.95% 18.22% 4.84% 16.15%
Healthcare 11.39% 9.59% 11.22% 10.86% 13.03% 13.90% 10.83% 19.42% 10.85%
Industrials 11.71% 11.36% 12.54% 12.06% 11.30% 10.07% 9.30% 6.95% 10.19%
Information Technology 24.16% 29.55% 26.68% 27.96% 25.54% 24.31% 20.70% 19.66% 13.90%
Materials 3.78% 7.48% 3.01% 5.09% 2.17% 2.64% 2.31% 0.66% 3.78%
Telecommunication Services 0.07% 0.20% 1.72% 0.41% 3.13% 1.45% 2.99% 0.05% 2.30%
Utilities 0.39% 0.11% 0.23% 0.16% 0.15% 0.43% 1.86% 0.04% 4.62%
TOTAL 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
Largest S&P 500 2014 buybacks:
Company Sector 2014 2013 5-YEAR 10-YEAR
Buybacks Buybacks Buybacks Buybacks
$ Million $ Million $ Million $ Million
Apple Information Technology $45,001 $25,939 $72,890 $73,245
Exxon Mobil Energy $13,183 $15,998 $85,397 $220,435
Intel Information Technology $10,792 $2,147 $34,125 $61,100
International Business Machines Information Technology $9,998 $10,307 $62,721 $114,146
Wells Fargo Financials $9,414 $5,356 $21,195 $35,580
Oracle Information Technology $8,099 $10,750 $32,433 $45,176
Microsoft Information Technology $8,048 $6,371 $40,155 $120,963
Merck Healthcare $7,703 $6,516 $20,324 $26,496
Johnson & Johnson Healthcare $7,124 $3,538 $27,618 $49,487
The Home Depot Consumer Discretionary $7,000 $8,546 $25,608 $46,315
Monsanto Materials $6,817 $1,629 $9,123 $10,342
Cisco Systems Information Technology $6,419 $8,235 $31,787 $69,588
Procter & Gamble Consumer Staples $6,254 $5,005 $30,378 $74,010
Walt Disney Consumer Discretionary $6,112 $4,761 $22,569 $40,539
Boeing Industrials $6,001 $1,801 $7,802 $16,218
3M Industrials $5,652 $5,212 $16,623 $26,238
Goldman Sachs Group Financials $5,469 $6,175 $26,515 $52,432
Gilead Sciences Healthcare $5,349 $582 $13,004 $17,004
Top 20 $174,435 $128,868 $580,267 $1,099,315
S&P 500 $553,275 $475,587 $2,131,670 $3,979,128
Top 20 % of S&P 500 31.53% 27.10% 27.22% 27.63%
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
About S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's largest, global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. Home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC has over 115 years of experience constructing innovative and transparent solutions that fulfill the needs of investors. More assets are invested in products based upon our indices than any other provider in the world. With over 1,000,000 indices covering a wide range of asset classes across the globe, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC defines the way investors measure and trade the markets. To learn more about our company, please visit www.spdji.com.
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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices
