10 Companies That Are Buying Back Their Stock in 2025

In this article, we will take a detailed look at 10 Companies That Are Buying Back Their Stock in 2025.

Stock repurchases are the most discretionary form of capital allocation and have also become over time the most dominant for the US corporations. Unlike dividends, which create a recurring obligation, or capital expenditures, which are often a necessity to maintain the business operations going, buybacks offer flexibility – companies can repurchase shares when excess cash is available and halt the program during downturns or when capital allocation priorities shift. A buyback reduces the number of outstanding shares, effectively increasing earnings per share, and are therefore often seen as a form of instant gratification – prefer immediate upward pressure on stock prices over long-term gains from strategic reinvestments. Critics argue that buybacks can signal a lack of attractive reinvestment opportunities in the core business, as firms would most likely prioritize any potential project that could strengthen the competitive position and boost the growth trajectory. While such scenarios are certainly possible in some cases, proponents view stock repurchases as a natural adjustment to limited or uncertain growth opportunities or a way to return excess cash to investors in a more tax-efficient way than dividends.

Also read: 10 Technology Stocks with Insider Buying in 2024

One of the primary reasons behind stock buybacks is to support the share price during periods of economic uncertainty or market volatility. It is well known that the management possesses insider information and has much greater visibility into the business trajectory; thus, when a company perceives that its stock is undervalued and repurchases significant amount of its own stock, it can signal confidence and boost morale among the entire shareholder base. Successful investors like Warren Buffett have spoken favorably about buybacks when executed at prices below intrinsic value, emphasizing that they can be an intelligent use of capital when alternative investments offer lower returns. However, buybacks have also faced scrutiny for their potential to artificially inflate stock prices and reward executives who are compensated based on EPS growth. The debate intensifies when companies borrow money to finance these operations, which can strain balance sheets in times of economic distress and depletes the cash reserves without any claw-back option.

Recent legislative developments have placed buybacks under greater regulatory and tax scrutiny – the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 introduced a 1% excise tax on stock repurchases, aimed at curbing excessive reliance on buybacks and encouraging reinvestment in business operations and employee wages. In short, the purpose behind these regulatory attempts was to limit the hoarding of capital into investors’ hands and stimulate reinvestments that would fuel economic growth and create jobs. Despite this, repurchase activity remains robust, with S&P 500 firms continuing to allocate substantial capital to buybacks. For reference, data published by S&P Global shows that the total dollar volume of stock repurchases during 3Q 2024 increased 22% YoY. Some investors argue that government regulations will have limited impact, as corporations may simply adjust capital allocation strategies or increase leverage to maintain shareholder returns. As the US stock market experienced a strong rally throughout 2024 and reaching new all-time highs in the second half of the year extending into 2025, studying companies that repurchase significant amounts of their own stock may offer unique insights into their business; the key question to answer though is whether these operations signal an undervalued stock price or a lack of profitable reinvestment opportunities in the near-term.

Our Methodology

For our list of companies that are buying back stock we selected the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 index with the largest dollar volume of shares repurchased during Q3 2024, as reported by the S&P Dow Jones Indices. We ranked them according to their buyback activity for the quarter and also added the number of hedge fund holders for each company in this analysis.

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10. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $3.53 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 113

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is one of the largest financial institutions in the US, providing a broad range of banking, investment, and wealth management services to individuals, businesses, and institutions. With a strong retail banking presence and a robust digital platform, the company serves millions of customers through checking accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and lending solutions. Its investment banking and asset management divisions, including Merrill and BofA Securities, offer advisory, trading, and financial planning services.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) had a strong calendar 2024 and beginning of 2025, with the stock price approaching the 5-year high. The company generated $102 billion in revenue and reported net income of $27.1 billion with EPS of $3.21, achieving an 83 basis points return on assets and 13% return on tangible common equity in FY2024. The bank demonstrated strong financial position with $953 billion in liquidity and $201 billion in regulatory CET1 capital, maintaining a CET1 ratio of 11.9%. Net interest income showed positive momentum, bottoming at $13.9 billion in Q2 2024 and rising to $14.5 billion in Q4, with expectations for record NII in 2025. The bank experienced growth across all business segments, with deposits growing for six consecutive quarters and consumer loans growing in every category during the quarter. Asset quality remained strong with declining net charge-offs, while the bank returned $21 billion of capital to shareholders in 2024, representing a 75% increase from 2023 – $3.5 billion of which are attributed to stock repurchases in 3Q.

9. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $4.11 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 317

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology leader specializing in software, cloud computing, AI, and hardware solutions. Best known for its Windows operating system and Office productivity suite, Microsoft has expanded its reach through Azure, one of the world’s largest cloud computing platforms, and AI-driven tools like Copilot. The company also owns LinkedIn, GitHub, and Xbox, strengthening its presence in enterprise, developer, and consumer markets.

After peaking in July 2024, the shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) experienced a correction in the second half of calendar 2024, as the company faced supply constraints that impacted Azure’s growth, with some third-party deliveries being pushed into the future. Furthermore, the company’s operating income growth was negatively impacted by the Activision acquisition, which created a 2-point drag on operating income growth and had a negative $0.05 impact on EPS in the quarter ending October 30^th. Despite these short-term headwinds, MSFT is rapidly innovating and investing in its cloud infrastructure to meet the surging demand for AI-powered services, taking a customer-centric and environmentally responsible approach. The company is balancing short-term capacity needs with longer-term, flexible capital investments, while also focusing on improving the efficiency and unit economics of its AI offerings to drive sustainable growth. The company repurchased $4.11 billion worth of stock in 3Q 2024 – while a high absolute amount, it represents only a tiny portion of the company’s FCF capacity; MSFT still prioritizes capital expenditures to build its AI infrastructure (primarily Nvidia GPUs) for the long-term. In this particular case, we believe the large amount of stock repurchase does not signal a lack of reinvestment options.

8. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $4.71 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies, engaged in the exploration, production, refining, and distribution of oil and natural gas. With a global presence, CVX operates across the entire energy value chain, from upstream oil and gas extraction to downstream refining, chemicals, and renewable energy initiatives. The company is actively investing in lower-carbon technologies, including hydrogen, carbon capture, and renewable fuels, as part of its strategy to balance energy security with sustainability.

After a strong first half of 2024, the share price of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) dipped to a 52-week low in September, which is the last month of the quarter during which it repurchased $4.71 billion worth of its own stock. The company faced operational disruptions in the Eastern Mediterranean, where production at Leviathan had to be reduced multiple times due to regional conflicts. The pipelay vessel for expansion projects at both Tamar and Leviathan was demobilized due to the contractor’s concerns about the current risk environment. It is highly likely that management decided to support the stock price through large stock repurchases and reassure market participants that headwinds are temporary. During a subsequent energy conference, CVX stated that is well-positioned to navigate the evolving macroeconomic and regulatory landscape, leveraging its strategic initiatives and industry-leading assets to create long-term value for its investors. Management acknowledged that the new US administration is expected to pursue sound energy policies that are good for the economy, security, and competitiveness, which is likely to boost the company’s reinvestment opportunities in the long-term.

7. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $5.51 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 104

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is one of the world’s largest energy companies, engaged in the exploration, production, refining, and distribution of oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals. With a global footprint, XOM operates across the entire energy supply chain, from upstream extraction to downstream refining and advanced chemical manufacturing. The company is also investing in lower-emission technologies, including carbon capture, hydrogen, and biofuels, as part of its long-term energy transition strategy.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) reported strong earnings of $8.6 billion in Q3 2024, marking one of their best third quarters in the past decade. The company’s transformation efforts have significantly improved its earnings power, with Energy Products segment showing year-to-date earnings roughly double compared to 2019 on a constant margin basis. Production grew to 4.6 million oil equivalent barrels per day, representing a 24% increase YoY. During the same quarter, XOM repurchased $5.51 billion of its own stock, which we believe represents a reasonable return of its record earnings to investors – the energy volumes in the US are still significantly lower than in the previous decades, and the tailwinds from the executive orders of the new administration had not kicked in at that time. For the full year 2024, the company generated cash flow from operations of $55 billion, which is the third highest in a decade – management mentions the funds will be used to finance profitable growth, maintain financial strength, and reward shareholders, which leads us to the conclusion that XOM is able to maintain a perfect balance between reinvestments and capital returns.

6. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $5.87 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 181

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global leader in digital payments, facilitating secure and seamless transactions across more than 200 countries and territories. As a payments technology company, V operates one of the world’s largest electronic payment networks, connecting consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. Its innovative solutions, including contactless payments, digital wallets, and AI-driven fraud prevention, drive financial inclusion and enhance the global commerce ecosystem.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) repurchased $5.87 billion of its own shares in 3Q 2024, which coincides with the start of a strong rally which extends into 2025 as well – the company’s stock price is currently at an all-time high, 23% higher than it was a year ago. During a recent investors’ day, management mentioned that it sees enormous opportunities across three key areas: $41 trillion in addressable consumer spend with over 55% currently underserved, $200 trillion in commercial and money movement solutions, and $520 billion in potential revenue opportunity from value-added services. The company’s strategy focuses on four clear actions: strengthening card-based consumer payments, expanding reach in consumer payments including noncard payments, driving penetration of commercial payments and money movement, and delivering innovative value-added services. As one of the widest moats in the universe, V operates a business model which is perfectly scalable organically, meaning that it does not require significant Capex spending and does not rely on M&A transactions. With that being said, we believe the company’s large capital returns to shareholders represent the most reasonable form of capital allocation, which also significantly supports the stock price and contributes to its below-average volatility.

5. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $6.36 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 123

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is the largest bank in the United States and a global financial powerhouse, offering a wide range of banking, investment, and asset management services. Through its consumer and commercial banking divisions, the firm provides lending, credit cards, and wealth management solutions, while its investment banking arm, J.P. Morgan, is a leader in M&A, trading, and capital markets. With a strong emphasis on technology and digital banking, the company continues to innovate in areas like AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity, in an attempt to streamline its operations and maintain its leading position.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) experienced a strong second half of 2024, with its share price currently near the all-time high. The company maintains a strong deposit franchise that has outperformed expectations, with deposit rate paid being lower than assumed and the deposit franchise performing better contingent on rate levels. The company’s net interest income guidance stands at $90 billion ex-markets and $94 billion firm-wide, with expectations of a mid-year trough followed by deposit growth reasserting itself in the second half of 2025.  In terms of technology investments, management believes the company has reached peak modernization while maintaining focus on product development and features. The consumer credit portfolio remains solid, primarily driven by the strong labor market, with charge-off rates, early roll rates, and cash buffers all in line with expectations. Regarding capital management, JPM has accumulated significant excess capital, currently representing about 10% of the market cap, and maintains a disciplined approach to capital deployment with buybacks at the bottom of the priority list. With $6.36 billion worth of stock repurchased in 3Q 2024, we believe JPM has less need for maintaining high cash reserves, as the macroeconomic outlook improves, and will gradually return capital back to shareholders.

4. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $12.36 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a global technology company at the forefront of social media, digital advertising, and the metaverse. Best known for its platforms – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger – META connects billions of users worldwide while providing businesses with powerful advertising and engagement tools. The company is heavily investing in AI and VR/AR through its Reality Labs division, aiming to build the next generation of immersive digital experiences.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was among the top performers of 2024 with its share price up more than 40% in the last twelve months. The company ended 2024 with strong performance, reaching over 3.3 billion daily active users across its family of apps. Meta AI has emerged as the most widely used AI assistant, with more than 700 million monthly active users. Threads has shown significant growth, reaching more than 320 million monthly active users with over 1 million daily sign-ups. WhatsApp has gained momentum in the US with more than 100 million monthly active users, while Facebook maintains a strong global presence with over 3 billion monthly active users. The company announced substantial infrastructure investments, including plans to bring online almost a gigawatt of capacity in 2025 and build a 2-gigawatt AI data center. Meta’s 2025 capital expenditure is projected to be in the range of $60 billion to $65 billion, primarily focused on AI infrastructure and core business development.

The company’s spending policy in the last 2 years demonstrates that it has a myriad of reinvestment opportunities to build the AI infrastructure as well as fuel R&D in the AR/VR field. At the same time, the record financial performance has led to record operating cash flow generation, and it is reasonable to expect that some of the capital will be returned back to investors through stock repurchases, which might be a higher-ROI option than hoarding it on the balance sheet at a 4% money market rate. All in all, we believe the whopping $12.36 billion of repurchases in 3Q 2024 should not be interpreted as a negative signal for META.

3. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $12.68 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 223

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a global leader in accelerated computing, best known for its cutting-edge GPUs that power gaming, AI, data centers, and autonomous systems. Originally dominant in gaming hardware, NVDA has expanded into high-performance computing, AI-driven applications, and enterprise solutions, with its GPUs playing a crucial role in AI model training, machine learning, and deep learning. The company’s innovations extend to industries such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, and digital twins. The California-based company ranked 2^nd on our recent list of 10 Hot AI Stocks to Buy Now.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was among the best performers and highest market movers during the calendar 2024, as demand for its state-of-the-art GPUs remained exceptional throughout the year. Companies scaled their infrastructure of GPUs to support next-generation AI models training, multimodal, and agentic AI, deep learning recommender engines, generative AI inference and content creation workloads, and hence sales of H200 chips increased significantly to double-digit billions, the fastest prod ramp in NVDA’s history. Going forward, the company is focusing on three major areas: digital health, digital biology, and digital devices, with digital biology representing a $300 billion opportunity. NVDA already announced significant partnerships with IQVIA to accelerate clinical trials, Arc Institute to develop biology foundation models, Illumina for genomics advancement, and Mayo Clinic for AI-driven digital pathology. The beauty of NVDA is that it’s not a capex-intensive business, meaning that it can pursue new growth opportunities with minimal incremental cash outflows. Consequently, the only viable option to dispose of its $28 billion operating cash flow during 2024 (more than 5x the 2023 level) is to return it to investors through discretionary stock repurchases.

2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $15.29 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 234

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a global technology conglomerate best known as the parent company of Google, which dominates the search engine market and digital advertising through Google Ads and YouTube. Beyond its core business, GOOGL has expanded into cloud computing, AI, autonomous vehicles (Waymo), and life sciences (Verily). Google Cloud continues to be a key growth driver, competing in enterprise AI and digital transformation solutions.

The strong performance of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during 2024 (shares up more than 30%) was primarily fueled by Google Cloud, which experienced significant growth, achieving 5x revenue growth in 5 years and becoming the fourth largest enterprise software company globally. GOOGL offers comprehensive AI infrastructure with 40 regions and 121 zones connected worldwide, demonstrating strong capabilities in AI training and inferencing systems – their AI infrastructure shows impressive performance metrics, delivering 3x competitors for training and 2.5x competitors on cost performance basis for inference. The company has seen substantial adoption metrics, with 90% of AI unicorns and 60% of all AI funded startups using their cloud infrastructure. During the latest quarter, management reported significant progress in AI, with Gemini 2.0 rollout and dramatic improvements across compute model capabilities and efficiencies. Going forward, GOOGL expects to increase its investments in capital expenditure for technical infrastructure, primarily for servers followed by data centers and networking, which clearly signals the presence of attractive growth opportunities ahead. Despite this, the company repurchased a whopping $15.29 billion worth of its own shares in 3Q 2024 alone, as a result of record cash flow generated during the year.

1. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Q3 2024 buybacks: $25.36 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a global technology leader renowned for its innovative consumer electronics, software, and services. Best known for its flagship products – the iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods – AAPL has built a highly integrated ecosystem that enhances user experience through seamless connectivity. Its services division, including the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple Pay, has become a key revenue driver.

The share of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had a strong performance in 2024 as the company achieved all-time revenue records across major regions including the Americas, Europe, Japan and rest of Asia Pacific, while also seeing momentum in emerging markets. Services reached an all-time revenue record of $26.3 billion in the latest quarter, growing 14% YoY, while the installed base hit a new record with over 2.35 billion active devices. Despite weakness in China being a concern for many analysts, the CEO sparked optimism by stating that there is a lot more innovation to come in the smartphone space and that he feels optimistic about the company’s product pipeline. Earlier in the year, AAPL introduced significant innovations including Apple Intelligence, which brings new AI capabilities across its device ecosystem, and launched new products including updated Macs with M4 chips, new iPad models, and enhanced features for Apple Watch and AirPods. The company’s business has historically been low on Capex intensity, and therefore it is of no surprise that it returned most of its operating cash flow to investors through stock repurchases – $25.36 billion in 3Q 2024 alone, one of the highest quarters in history.

Overall Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ranks first on our list of the 10 companies that are buying their stock in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AAPL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.

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