This article presents an overview of the 5 Stocks with the Biggest Buybacks. For a detailed overview of such stocks, read our article, 11 Stocks with the Biggest Buybacks.
5. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM)
Stock Buybacks in 12 Months Through September 2023: $17.8B
Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) ranks 5th in our list of the stocks with the biggest buybacks. In December, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) said it plans to up its annual share repurchase program to $20 billion in 2024 through 2025 after the Pioneer merger closes, up from $17.5 billion in 2023. As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 79 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM).
During Q3 earnings call Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) management talked about stock repurchases:
If you look at our overall free cash flow results in the quarter, it was just under $12 billion at $11.7 billion, and we paid out $8.1 billion to shareholders, and that was between $3.7 billion in dividends and $4.4 billion in the share repurchase program. In fact, in the quarter our cash balance actually went up $3.4 billion, and we ended the quarter at $33 billion, so I think you can see that in the quarter, we were in fact well under 100% in terms of what we paid out, which is what enables us to grow our cash balance and strengthen our balance sheet even further. You know, when you look overall at our approach to capital allocation, our priorities continue to be the same. First and foremost, let’s make sure we’re investing in advantaged projects that are differentiated, are going to drive high returns for our shareholders.
We do that both organically and, as you’ve seen recently, inorganically as well, making sure we’re maintaining a really strong balance sheet – we need that. Ultimately at some point, the cycle will turn against us and that balance sheet will be there for us to lean into, and being balanced in our approach as to how we share the success of the company and those rewards with our shareholders. I think you can continue to see that balance coming through between dividends and share repurchases. We’re looking to be more consistent in our share repurchase program – again, I think you’re seeing that. We continue to say we’re on track to execute $17.5 billion of share repurchases this year. We’ll complete that before the end of the year and we already have a program in place, a similar program in place for 2024, so we’re trying to get that balance right
Read the entire earnings call transcript here.
4. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Stock Buybacks in 12 Months Through September 2023: $21.5B
With $21.5 billion in stock repurchases during 12 months ending September 2023, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 4th in our list of the 11 stocks with the biggest buybacks. Back in 2021 Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) board approved a $60 billion stock repurchase program, according to reports. During the third quarter of 2023, Microsoft Corp’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) share repurchases stood at $4.15 billion, according to data from YCharts.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 306 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was a leading contributor to performance for the quarter. The Company grew revenues +12% with healthy double-digit revenue growth in its core Office 365 and +28% growth in its Azure and other cloud services businesses leading to +25% growth in operating income. Microsoft has generated quite a few headlines related to its AI investments and initiatives, this year. The Company already has a commanding hold on the productivity software market, with the segment reporting almost 50% operating margins last fiscal year, but any new AI features introduced over the course of the year could help solidify that lead.”
3. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)
Stock Buybacks in 12 Months Through September 2023: $26B
According to S&P Dow Jones Indices data, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) had about $26 billion in stock repurchases in the one-year period ending September 2023. In early 2023, Meta Platforms Inc’s (NASDAQ:META) board of directors approved $40 billion in share repurchases. In 2022, the Facebook parent spent about $28 billion on share buybacks.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 234 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META).
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was a leading contributor to performance for the quarter – and the year. Core advertising revenue growth accelerated to +23% while operating margin rebounded strongly from a year ago. The Company has been a consistent beneficiary of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past several years, investing aggressively in deep learning recommendation systems that help power its products, which reach nearly half the population of the planet. Meta Platform’s AI investments, combined with its massive scale, allow the Company to quickly spin up new products across its digital advertising real estate to reinforce its competitive positioning. For example, the Company’s relatively new Reels product is just over two years old, yet it has driven a +40% increase in the time Instagram users spend on the app. Reels content and other content served up to Instagram users is often driven by several very large and expensive AI recommendation systems that must sort through billions of datapoints in real time and come up with a probability of a user engagement. The Company is one of the few companies that has been able to consistently and profitably monetize AI technologies for shareholders and we continue to hold it has a top position in our portfolios.”
2. Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Stock Buybacks in 12 Months Through September 2023: $60.7B
Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had about $60.7 billion in stock repurchases in the one-year period through September 2023, according to S&P Dow Jones data.
In April 2023, Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said its board approved a massive $70 billion stock buyback program.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“In 2023 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was a top contributor to portfolio performance thanks to its search revenues accelerating due to the investments they have been making in AI over the past several years. The Company has spent almost $150 billion on research and development in just 5 years, creating products and services that helped drive a more than doubling of revenues. For example, almost 80% of the Company’s advertising customers use an AI-enabled tool when they run their Google Search and YouTube campaign.
Although the Company was criticized by the media for being “late” to the AI party when they rolled out a Gen-AI chatbot after Microsoft, Google has been creating scaled, context-aware AI functions for at least a decade, such as semantic search. While not necessarily a “large language model (LLM),” semantic search has become a mainstay in all-things search – predicting what users want to see or type before they type it. Consumers probably do not really care what kind of AI framework is being used behind the technology they are using, as long as it is useful to them – but these AI features are what have helped drive the rapid growth of Alphabet’s Google franchise…” (Click here to read the full text)
1. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Stock Buybacks in 12 Months Through September 2023: $83B
With $83 billion in stock repurchases in 12 months through September 2023, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) tops out list of the 11 stocks with the biggest buybacks. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) bought back just $77.55 billion in stock in fiscal 2023. Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock repurchases in 2022 came in at $89.4 billion.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its fourth quarter 2023 investor letter:
“Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was also a top contributor to performance during the fourth quarter. The Company’s services segment revenue growth accelerated to +16% over last year, one of the fastest growth rates since Covid-19 lockdowns, helping drive +11% growth in earnings per share. The strength in the Company’s services segment was aided by over 1 billion paid subscribers across Apple’s media platforms. We estimate that there are more than 2 billion iOS devices in Apple’s global installed base, which still represents a very large addressable share of their current subscriber count. Apple also continues to innovate across its hardware portfolio, with custom silicon for nearly all its device form factors. More recently, the Company launched its new line of Mac computers, which included their M3 family of chips, including the M3 Max, which contains up to an astonishing 92 billion transistors. Apple’s long-term strategy of creating products with customized hardware and software should continue to differentiate their products and help drive solid revenue growth and expense leverage across the Company’s ecosystem.”
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