Apple Stock, Google Stock Top Buybacks Among U.S. Companies

Apple (AAPL) and Google parent-Alphabet (GOOGL) led all U.S. companies in stock buybacks during the second quarter, though overall repurchases fell nearly 22% from the previous quarter, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook-parent Meta (META) also placed among the top five in stock buybacks.

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Overall, S&P 500 buybacks in second quarter were $219.6 billion, down 21.8% from the first quarter’s record $281 billion.

Information technology companies continued to lead the way in buybacks. Buybacks by financial companies fell 61% to $21.2 billion. Health Care buybacks decreased 58% to $17.2 billion.

Apple Stock: $91.34 Billion Repurchased

Apple repurchased $24.56 billion of its own shares in the second quarter, down about 4% from a year earlier. The iPhone maker has repurchased $91.34 billion of Apple stock in the last 12 months.

Alphabet repurchased $15.19 billion of Google stock during the second quarter, up about 19% from a year earlier. The internet search giant has bought back $54.58 billion in Google stock over the last 12 months.

And Microsoft repurchased $8.76 billion of its own shares in the second quarter, up about 21% from a year earlier. The software giant has repurchased $32.69 billion of Microsoft stock in the last 12 months.

Financial, Health Care Buybacks Fall

Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META) repurchased $6.2 billion of its own stock during the period, down about 26% from a year earlier. The social networking giant has bought back $53.27 billion of its own stock in the last 12 months.

Along with Apple stock and the others, three other tech firms were among the top 10 biggest buybacks. They included chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Charter Communications (CHTR).

The top 20 companies accounted for 46.8% of second-quarter buybacks.

From a shareholder view, buybacks of Apple stock and other repurchases boost earnings by reducing outstanding shares. Apple shares climbed 1.6% to close at 156.90 on the stock market today.

Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.

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