Apple (AAPL) led the S&P 500 in stock buybacks and dividends in the fourth quarter, as the information technology sector overall led the field.
Companies in the S&P 500 spent $136.6 billion on share buybacks during the fourth quarter, up 5.2% year over year, says a report from FactSet Research. It was the sixth-highest quarterly amount since FactSet began tracking the data at the start of 2005.
As the top spender, Apple repurchased $6 billion worth of shares in Q4. Apple was also the leader in Q3 stock buybacks, at a whopping $15.3 billion in repurchases.
The information technology group led all industry sectors in the S&P 500, with $33.2 billion spent on buybacks in Q4. Four of the top 10 companies were in the information technology sector, as FactSet defines it: Apple, Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and Visa (V).
Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors led buyback spending in Q4. https://t.co/tTsQkCDffj pic.twitter.com/Zn2aeo46yL
— FactSet (@FactSet) March 18, 2016
Following Apple for second place was United Technologies (UTX) at $5.1 billion, then Microsoft at $3.6 billion and Oracle at $3.25 billion. In Q3, Microsoft spent $4 billion in buybacks, while Oracle spent $3 billion.
Apple also led in quarterly dividends, with a cash distribution of $2.97 billion. Microsoft was close behind at $2.86 billion, followed by General Electric (GE) at $2.3 billion. General Electric came in sixth place in stock buybacks, at more than $3 billion.
Share repurchase programs are a popular way of returning capital to shareholders, tending to boost a stock and per-share earnings, while dividends put cash in the hands of shareholders.
In 2015, there were 70 activist campaigns in which a dissident objective was to return cash via dividends and/or buybacks, up 37% from 2014, Factset said in its report. This represented the highest total since FactSet began tracking the data in 2005. Of the 70 campaigns, activists were successful in 31, which was a record high.
