NEW YORK, June 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today that preliminary results show that S&P 500® stock buybacks, or share repurchases, increased 59.3% to $159.3 billion during the first quarter of 2014, up from the $100.0 billion spent on share repurchases during the first quarter of 2013. The $159.3 billion also represents a 23.1% increase over Q4 2013 stock buyback activity.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, for the 12 months ending March 2014, S&P 500 issues increased their buyback expenditures by 29.0% to $534.9 billion from the $414.6 billion posted during the corresponding twelve month period in 2013. The twelve month high mark was reached in fiscal year 2007, when companies spent $589.1 billion. The twelve-month recession low point was $137.6 billion, recorded in fiscal year 2009.

"Companies reached into their deep pockets this quarter and spent an extra $30 billion over the prior quarter on buybacks, buying more than they issued and reducing their share count," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "The lower share count pushed up earnings per share significantly (defined as a 4% impact) for 99 issues in the S&P 500, with the Q1 poster child being Apple."

Silverblatt notes that Apple set a record buyback expenditure of $18 billion in the first quarter, beating out the prior $16 billion record, which it held from Q2 2013. As a result of the large buyback, Apple reduced its average diluted shares by 7.0% year-over-year leading to a 7.1% increase in net earnings resulting in a 15.2% gain in EPS.

S&P Dow Jones Indices' data show that more companies continued to reduce their share count, with 290 doing so in the first quarter up from 276 in the fourth quarter. Significant changes (generally considered 1% or greater for the quarter) continued to strongly favor reductions, as 123 issues reduced their share count by at least 1% (up from last quarter's 112 issues). Share change impacts of at least 4% (Q1 2014 over Q1 2013), which can be seen in EPS comparisons, numbered 99 in the first quarter, up from the prior quarter's 83.

"It's not just what you buy, but what you issue," adds Silverblatt. "This quarter companies decided to buy more. The key question for Q2 is did they do it to boost a poor Q1 earnings period that was impacted by weather conditions, or was it a shift towards more enhanced earnings via share count reduction, similar to what we experienced in 2006 and 2007?"

Silverblatt also comments that companies continue to increase their total shareholders' returns through regular cash dividends, as well as buybacks. Buyback and dividend expenditures combined reached a new record high in the first quarter of $241.2 billion, replacing the fourth quarter of 2007 record when $233.2 billion was spent on buybacks and dividends. Of the 404 issues which reported buybacks over the past year, 346 companies paid a cash dividend, with 217 of them spending more on buybacks than dividends. Buyback program authorizations have continued to increase.

"Keeping up with the current bull market means that companies have to pay more for the same number of shares, and activists are demanding more of a return, both via dividends and buybacks," notes Silverblatt. "For buybacks the true test is share count reduction, and we are seeing more companies achieve share count reduction as they increase their EPS."

On a sector basis, Information Technology increased its dominance of buybacks, accounting for 30.9% of all buybacks in Q1 (up from 26.7% in Q4). Apple led the Index with its $18 billion record setting quarter and International Business Machines (IBM) was second at $8.2 billion in buybacks. The top five were rounded out by Exxon Mobil ($3.9 billion), FedEx ($2.8 billion), and Boeing Company ($2.5 billion).

All data in this press release should be sourced to: S&P Dow Jones Indices. Historical S&P 500 buyback data can be found at: www.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500.



    S&P Dow Jones Indices

    S&P 500, $ U.S. BILLIONS, preliminary values in bold italics

    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


    3/31/2014 Prelim.                                               $16,700     $243.76       $221.64        $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

    09/30/2008                                                      $10,181     $142.90        $86.16        $61.44         $89.71         2.48%        4.26%           6.73%         $151.15

    06/30/2008                                                      $11,163     $148.43       $112.15        $61.94         $87.91         2.26%        4.62%           6.88%         $149.86

    03/30/2008                                                      $11,511     $144.63       $135.24        $61.72        $113.90         2.17%        5.08%           7.25%         $175.62



    S&P Dow Jones Indices

    S&P 500 20 LARGEST Q1 2014 BUYBACKS, $ MILLIONS

    Company                             Ticker      Sector                   Q1,'14 12 Mo Mar,'14   5-Years

                                                                           Buybacks      Buybacks  Buybacks

                                                                              $ Mil         $ Mil     $ Mil

    Apple                               AAPL        Information Technology  $17,971        $43,910    $45,860

    Internat'l
     Business                           IBM         Information Technology   $8,166        $19,432    $70,105

    Exxon Mobil                         XOM         Energy                   $3,860        $14,237    $87,925

    FedEx                               FDX         Industrials              $2,765         $3,984     $4,427

    Boeing                              BA          Industrials              $2,500         $4,301     $4,301

    Cisco Systems                       CSCO        Information Technology   $2,321         $9,610    $31,737

    Abbott
     Laboratories                       ABT         Healthcare               $2,192         $2,872     $6,374

    Oracle                              ORCL        Information Technology   $2,040        $10,658    $27,138

    CBS                                 CBS         Consumer Discretionary   $2,032         $2,928     $6,255

    Corning                             GLW         Information Technology   $1,901         $3,468     $4,968

    Microsoft                           MSFT        Information Technology   $1,845         $7,188    $39,381

    eBay                                EBAY        Information Technology   $1,811         $2,678     $5,827

    Caterpillar                         CAT         Industrials              $1,738         $3,738     $3,738

    Goldman Sachs
     Group                              GS          Financials               $1,719         $6,369    $22,765

    3M                                  MMM         Industrials              $1,708         $6,115    $12,696

    Mosaic                              MOS         Materials                $1,678         $1,678     $2,840

    MasterCard                          MA          Information Technology   $1,669         $3,346     $7,008

    Celgene                             CELG        Healthcare               $1,569         $3,289     $8,958

    Walt Disney                         DIS         Consumer Discretionary   $1,536         $5,447    $18,052

     Procter & Gamble                   PG          Consumer Staples         $1,501         $6,506    $28,045

    Top 20                                                                  $62,521       $161,754   $438,400

    S&P 500                                                                $159,277       $534,897 $1,844,533

    Top 20 % of S&P
     500                                                                     39.25%        30.24%    23.77%



    S&P Dow Jones Indices

    S&P 500 SECTOR BUYBACKS

    SECTOR $ MILLIONS            Q1,'14   Q4,'13    Q1,'13     12MO MAR,'14      12 MO MAR,'13       5-YEARS


    Consumer Discretionary      $18,610   $18,080    $15,328           $73,508             $63,033       $282,724

    Consumer Staples            $12,031   $11,309    $10,385           $44,469             $46,033       $224,168

    Energy                      $13,091   $12,236     $8,334           $45,707             $33,921       $168,457

    Financials                  $18,262   $16,077    $13,025           $63,784             $56,493       $203,908

    Healthcare                  $15,814   $14,525    $16,766           $61,006             $73,995       $267,597

    Industrials                 $22,024   $16,230     $8,980           $66,779             $36,170       $176,474

    Information Technology      $49,182   $34,528    $17,585          $153,045             $79,878       $443,216

    Materials                    $8,534    $3,899     $2,919           $15,920              $5,687        $37,422

    Telecommunication Services   $1,565    $2,228     $6,485            $9,947             $17,200        $30,557

    Utilities                      $164      $300       $160              $732              $2,171        $10,009

    TOTAL                      $159,277  $129,411    $99,967          $534,897            $414,583     $1,844,533


    SECTOR BUYBACK MAKEUP %    Q1,'14   Q4,'13    Q1,'13     12MO MAR,'14      12 MO MAR,'13       5-YEARS

    Consumer Discretionary       11.68%   13.97%    15.33%           13.74%             15.20%        15.33%

    Consumer Staples              7.55%    8.74%    10.39%            8.31%             11.10%        12.15%

    Energy                        8.22%    9.45%     8.34%            8.55%              8.18%         9.13%

    Financials                   11.47%   12.42%    13.03%           11.92%             13.63%        11.05%

    Healthcare                    9.93%   11.22%    16.77%           11.41%             17.85%        14.51%

    Industrials                  13.83%   12.54%     8.98%           12.48%              8.72%         9.57%

    Information Technology       30.88%   26.68%    17.59%           28.61%             19.27%        24.03%

    Materials                     5.36%    3.01%     2.92%            2.98%              1.37%         2.03%

    Telecommunication Services    0.98%    1.72%     6.49%            1.86%              4.15%         1.66%

    Utilities                     0.10%    0.23%     0.16%            0.14%              0.52%         0.54%

    TOTAL                       100.00%  100.00%   100.00%          100.00%            100.00%       100.00%



    S&P Dow Jones Indices                                                                                    Cash and equivalents (cash) are
                                                                                                             classified under current assets on the
                                                                                                             balance sheet, and represent the
                                                                                                             readily available discretionary liquid
                                                                                                             assets of a company. Cash is
                                                                                                             measured for the S&P Industrials
                                                                                                             (Old), which consist of the S&P 500
                                                                                                             minus Financials, Utilities and
                                                                                                             Transportation issues since these
                                                                                                             issues maintain high cash reserves as
                                                                                                             part of their normal operating process
                                                                                                             [Note: The S&P Industrials (Old) date
                                                                                                             back for decades. When the GICS
                                                                                                             classifications were developed, one of
                                                                                                             the new sectors was the Industrials,
                                                                                                             so the former group is referred to as
                                                                                                             the S&P Industrials (Old)].

    S&P 500 INDUSTRIAL (OLD) CASH AND EQUIVALENT LEVELS

    DATE                                                    CASH &  % HELD  % SHORT-TERM  CASH %  LTD % OF                               CASH % OF

                                                        EQUIVALENT AS CASH    SECURITIES  OF LTD     MARKET                                  MARKET

                                                        $ MILLIONS                                    VALUE                                   VALUE

    3/31/2014 Prelim.                                   $1,233,070   58.63%        41.37%  49.49%     17.86%                                   8.84%

    12/31/2013                                          $1,304,447   61.84%        38.16%  53.21%     17.68%                                   9.41%

    9/30/2013                                           $1,245,790   60.36%        39.64%  55.46%     19.09%                                  10.59%

    6/30/2013                                           $1,143,837   58.30%        41.70%  59.95%     16.02%                                   9.60%

    3/31/2013                                           $1,093,516   60.14%        39.86%  58.76%     15.91%                                   9.35%

    12/31/2012                                          $1,091,310   63.39%        36.61%  53.21%     18.94%                                  10.08%

    9/30/2012                                           $1,030,442   64.20%        35.80%  58.93%     15.93%                                   9.39%

    6/30/2012                                             $985,375   63.89%        36.11%  55.00%     17.26%                                   9.49%

    3/31/2012                                           $1,013,187   65.98%        34.02%  50.96%     18.36%                                   9.36%

    12/31/2011                                          $1,027,296   68.14%        31.86%  52.40%     20.39%                                  10.69%

    9/30/2011                                             $998,581   64.66%        35.34%  52.56%     21.85%                                  11.48%

    6/30/2011                                             $976,061   65.01%        34.99%  59.05%     17.32%                                  10.23%

    3/31/2011                                             $963,314   67.28%        32.72%  52.62%     18.39%                                   9.68%

    12/31/2010                                            $940,149   65.48%        34.52%  51.68%     20.24%                                  10.46%

    09/30/2010                                            $902,389   65.51%        33.55%  48.79%     20.19%                                   9.85%

    06/30/2010                                            $842,494   65.74%        34.26%  46.87%     24.73%                                  11.59%

    03/31/2010                                            $836,771   67.10%        32.90%  44.48%     22.79%                                  10.14%

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