Are increased Q3 buybacks a signal of executive confidence?

AlphaSense Staff

The US GDP gained significant momentum in Q3, increasing by 7.4% over the previous quarter and recovering about two thirds of the ground it lost amidst the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. While we’re not out of the COVID hole quite yet, with the economy still 3.5% smaller than it was at the end of last year, increases in buyback volume could signal executive’s confidence in some sectors.

Against this backdrop of a growing, yet still vulnerable economy, 120+ major corporations repurchased shares in Q3. Notably Q3 purchase volume increased by 55% over Q2. Which companies are riding the wave and repurchasing their stock? Take a look at the list we’ve compiled of companies over a $5B market cap below.=

Takeaways:

  • In Q3, 120+ companies repurchased a collective $60.3B, representing a 55% increase from Q2. Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft accounting for 52.2% of total buybacks with a combined $31.53B in buybacks in Q3
  • 25 companies repurchased >1% of their market capitalization within Q3 with Biogen continuing it’s program momentum, repurchasing 3.26% of market cap in Q3 after repurchasing over 6% in Q2
  • Information technology companies overtook Financials firms’ dominance in Q2 in representing the highest percentage of buybacks by volume, accounting for 28.1% of total repurchases in Q3 
  • Repurchases from Apple and Microsoft once again led the Information Technology sector to dominate in terms of the total dollar value of buybacks in Q3, with the IT sector accounting for 48.4% of total buyback dollar value. Together, Apple and Microsoft's buybacks account for 81% of repurchase dollar value within IT
  • Communications Services firms represented only 3.3% total buyback volume, but 22.2% of buyback dollar value with $13.37B in repurchases. Facebook and Alphabet accounted for 72% of the total buyback volume within the sector with a combined $9.63B in repurchases 
  • Charter Communications was the 2nd largest buyer in Communications Services this quarter topping Facebook’s $1.73B, repurchasing $3.26B, representing 2.54% of their market capitalization 
  • Dominion Energy ranked in the top 5 repurchasers in Q3, buying back $2.23B, accounting for 81% of all Utilities buybacks 

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AS-Blog-Q3-Buybacks-Chart1

We looked at companies with >$5B market cap and tracked 10Q filings from Q3'20 to see which industries repurchased the most stock by total dollar value repurchased.

AS-Blog-Q3-Buybacks-Chart2 (1)

We looked at companies with >$5B market cap and tracked 10Q filings from Q3'20 to see which industries were repurchasing their stock.


Company

July Volume

Aug Volume

Sept Volume

July Price

Aug Price

Sept Price

Amount Repurchased (in billions)

% Market Cap Repurchased

Apple Inc

67,990,000

43,119,000

60,725,000

$94.68

$115.99

$114.00

$18.36

0.91%

Alphabet Inc

1,454,000

1,592,000

2,114,000

$1,513.19

$1,561.67

$1,518.52

$7.90

0.67%

Microsoft Corp

9,748,145

7,797,300

7,606,666

$206.48

$213.96

$208.88

$5.27

0.33%

Charter Communication Inc

1,188,061

1,915,988

2,362,246

$537.54

$607.06

$615.83

$3.26

2.54%

Dominion Energy

 

3,673,314

24,829,124

 

$78.46

$78.40

$2.23

3.37%

Mastercard Inc

3,468,650

1,540,748

1,468,424

$302.71

$330.88

$340.07

$2.06

0.61%

Procter & Gamble

 

7,384,222

7,257,329

 

$135.42

$137.79

$2.00

0.58%

Facebook

2,310,000

2,205,000

2,205,000

$239.04

$268.67

$267.27

$1.73

0.22%

Biogen Inc

 

2,025,000

2,458,413

 

$283.69

$274.78

$1.25

3.37%

L3Harris Technologies Inc

 

5,055,208

1,336,140

 

$179.73

$180.58

$1.15

2.79%

eBay Inc

5,772,309

8,119,269

3,848,055

$54.68

$56.46

$51.97

$0.97

2.91%

Cigna Corp

1,180,578

2,349,942

1,438,383

$179.88

$178.78

$169.35

$0.88

1.15%

Anthem Inc

969,800

609,001

1,275,933

$264.56

$277.75

$260.93

$0.76

0.95%

Amgen Inc

1,069,984

1,004,844

960,100

$252.92

$242.72

$246.50

$0.75

0.57%

Sempra Energy

3,296,251

793,124

 

$122.27

$122.27

 

$0.50

1.30%

Sirius XM Holdings Inc

15,046,929

30,750,000

40,000,000

$5.85

$5.93

$5.40

$0.49

1.81%

Lam Research Group

 

483,000

861,000

 

$372.37

$327.63

$0.46

0.75%

Progressive Corp

1,600,514

1,602,786

1,683,519

$87.87

$90.44

$93.99

$0.44

0.80%

O'Reilly Automotive Inc

84,000

269,000

612,000

$423.09

$464.13

$461.24

$0.44

1.34%

Sherwin Williams Co

50,000

275,000

275,000

$648.56

$657.39

$695.43

$0.40

0.62%

Aflac Inc

2,045,100

3,913,300

4,957,427

$35.76

$36.98

$36.79

$0.40

1.33%

Union Pacific Corp

4,045,575

   

$98.93

   

$0.40

0.29%

Colgate-Palmolive

 

1,795,000

2,888,380

 

$77.56

$76.78

$0.36

0.50%

Ameriprise Financial Inc

433,550

621,055

1,013,362

$151.84

$157.76

$152.48

$0.32

1.47%

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp

   

4,100,000

   

$68.81

$0.28

0.71%

Wayfair Inc

 

843,941

   

$331.65

 

$0.28

1.20%

McKesson Corp

 

300,000

1,500,000

 

$152.66

$150.93

$0.27

0.96%

Gilead Sciences Inc

790,000

1,333,000

1,389,000

$75.48

$68.04

$64.30

$0.24

0.31%

Fleetcor Technologies Inc

412

 

999,503

$217.19

 

$238.43

$0.24

1.09%

Automatic Data Processing Inc

90,684

683,298

878,407

$132.36

$138.39

$136.45

$0.23

0.30%

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc

558,400

9,640,400

 

$18.60

$22.10

 

$0.22

3.15%

MSCI Inc

 

6,623

591,408

 

$348.20

$345.35

$0.21

0.62%

Amphenol Corporation

47,400

860,372

961,676

$105.46

$108.11

$108.05

$0.20

0.54%

Mettler Toledo International Inc

 

104,644

102,725

 

$955.37

$973.69

$0.20

0.73%

Loews Corp

 

1,250,171

4,154,083

 

$36.56

$35.82

$0.19

1.64%

Kimberly Clark Corp

162,100

541,200

570,700

$149.85

$156.80

$148.83

$0.19

0.40%

KLA Corporation

 

290,245

737,436

 

$206.72

$181.57

$0.19

0.52%

SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc

200,000

2,600,000

300,000

$57.05

$61.75

$61.64

$0.19

1.10%

Verisign Inc

289,000

264,000

270,000

$207.00

$208.39

$204.45

$0.17

0.77%

Arista Networks Inc

 

209,000

594,000

 

$219.86

$204.09

$0.17

0.81%

Honeywell International Inc

 

400,000

611,000

$0.00

$154.77

$165.53

$0.16

0.12%

AGNC Investment Corp

 

5,900,000

5,100,000

 

$13.92

$13.98

$0.15

1.85%

Arrow Electronics Inc

 

734,394

1,209,454

 

$74.87

$78.55

$0.15

2.27%

Carlisle Cos Inc

200,000

500,000

500,000

$119.07

$126.12

$123.35

$0.15

1.92%

T. Rowe Price Group Inc

32,814

 

1,090,792

$128.93

 

$126.64

$0.14

0.45%

Avalonbay Communities Inc

 

287,792

624,941

 

$152.90

$149.51

$0.14

0.58%

Globe Life Inc

592

531,837

1,053,872

$72.53

$83.72

$80.99

$0.13

1.34%

Illumina Inc

55,000

64,000

259,000

$369.87

$350.59

$316.65

$0.12

0.29%

Service Corporation International

894,191

251,996

1,710,983

$38.52

$46.06

$42.37

$0.12

1.40%

Bank of America Corp

5,000

3,891,000

104,000

$23.70

$27.90

$26.47

$0.11

0.05%

Celanese Corp

 

481,961

578,929

 

$101.73

$107.78

$0.11

0.72%

Advance Auto Parts Inc

 

191,730

524,278

 

$155.19

$152.31

$0.11

1.09%

SEI Investments Company

250,000

775,000

1,085,000

$51.65

$52.89

$50.54

$0.11

1.37%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

 

310,562

92,157

 

$270.48

$260.42

$0.11

0.19%

The Blackstone Group Inc

142,857

999,999

857,144

$54.28

$53.14

$52.21

$0.11

0.15%

Motorola Solutions Inc

203,313

67,273

443,815

$131.52

$148.64

$154.41

$0.11

0.37%

Qorvo Inc

175,000

397,000

265,000

$110.64

$131.59

$126.06

$0.11

0.64%

Juniper Networks Inc

 

2,600,000

1,600,000

 

$24.50

$23.03

$0.10

1.40%

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc

   

179,824

   

$558.55

$0.10

0.18%

Equitable Holdings Inc

 

3,259,806

1,473,143

 

$21.28

$20.80

$0.10

0.91%

Clorox Co

 

443,848

   

$225.30

 

$0.10

0.39%

PNC

   

919,000

   

$107.50

$0.10

0.18%

Ubiquiti Inc

 

55,333

546,670

 

$182.97

$159.99

$0.10

0.64%

American Financials Group

130,900

516,500

800,188

$59.71

$66.80

$66.53

$0.10

1.24%

Cadence Design Systems Inc

269,493

225,108

221,970

$100.33

$109.80

$105.16

$0.08

0.24%

Assurant Inc

 

242,000

335,476

 

$123.28

$120.03

$0.07

0.88%

Alleghany Corp

 

51,171

80,243

 

$547.08

$523.34

$0.07

0.80%

Jack Henry & Associates

 

300,000

100,000

 

$166.39

$159.57

$0.07

0.54%

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc

 

200,000

400,000

 

$102.63

$111.59

$0.07

0.24%

Lockheed Martin Corp

163,220

   

$363.74

   

$0.06

0.06%

Howmet Aerospace Inc

 

31,755

2,875,339

 

$18.59

$17.34

$0.05

0.50%

CSX Corp

557,454

147,611

 

$68.10

$68.99

 

$0.05

0.07%

Brunswick Corp

   

738,926

   

$60.90

$0.05

0.81%

Dolby Laboratories Inc

 

491,333

151,363

 

$69.92

$70.27

$0.04

0.50%

CBOE Global Markets Inc

 

170,141

295,225

 

$90.46

$89.60

$0.04

0.44%

Dropbox Inc

590,000

590,000

620,000

$21.82

$20.70

$19.84

$0.04

0.49%

Nasdaq Inc

 

149,897

109,756

 

$130.83

$130.67

$0.03

0.17%

Corteva Inc

   

1,159,748

   

$28.28

$0.03

0.12%

Gentex Corp

125,110

525,295

525,351

$27.07

$27.38

$26.44

$0.03

0.40%

Syneos Health Inc

   

506,244

   

$59.26

$0.03

0.46%

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Group

394,262

 

 

$76.09

   

$0.03

0.25%

Factset Research Systems Inc

47,428

37,295

 

$344.03

$355.76

 

$0.03

0.25%

Trimble Inc

   

574,973

   

$48.70

$0.03

0.20%

Essex Portfolio LP

121,260

 

 

$219.24

$0.00

$0.00

$0.03

0.16%

Fair Isaac Corp

 

24,000

35,600

 

$426.55

$421.32

$0.03

0.18%

Estee Lauder Companies Inc

369

 

114,053

$190.81

 

$219.79

$0.03

0.03%

Jones Lang Lasalle Inc

 

 

258,131

   

$96.82

$0.02

0.35%

Jabil Inc

80,750

455,893

223,628

$31.52

$32.23

$34.67

$0.02

0.44%

Robert Half International Inc

   

448,873

   

$52.37

$0.02

0.32%

Sealed Air Corp

   

521,498

   

$38.37

$0.02

0.29%

Morningstar Inc

 

41,957

80,063

 

$158.90

$158.04

$0.02

0.23%

Texas Instruments Inc

68,088

40,951

877

$129.15

$131.33

$134.78

$0.01

0.01%

Akamai Technologies Inc

 

50,566

69,431

 

$109.52

$110.33

$0.01

0.08%

Proofpoint Inc

 

 

112,000

   

$104.82

$0.01

0.21%

Pegasystems Inc

42,000

26,000

26,000

$109.36

$120.08

$124.88

$0.01

0.11%

TopBuild Corp

 

24,524

33,286

 

$152.87

$157.67

$0.01

0.15%

Brown & Brown Inc

   

132,851

   

$44.29

$0.01

0.04%

Pool Corp

 

 

19,613

   

$299.17

$0.01

0.05%

Bruker Corp

   

127,278

   

$39.28

$0.00

0.07%

OGE Energy Corp

 

150,000

   

$33.14

 

$0.00

0.07%

Prosperity Bancshares Inc

   

98,028

   

$49.99

$0.00

0.09%

Archer Daniels Midland

102

106,337

172

$41.77

$43.53

$47.61

$0.00

0.02%

Marketaxess Holding Inc

600

3,000

5,148

$520.18

$493.15

$463.40

$0.00

0.02%

Paycom Software Inc

8,894

   

$318.28

   

$0.00

0.01%

Arthur J Gallagher & Co

2,124

688

17,465

$102.73

$105.39

$105.08

$0.00

0.01%

CACI International Inc

10,455

   

$198.42

   

$0.00

0.03%

The Wendy's Co

 

21,202

59,900

 

$21.82

$21.00

$0.00

0.03%

Quidel Corp

 

 

10,157

   

$156.99

$0.00

0.02%

Royal Gold Inc

 

6,527

   

$136.59

 

$0.00

0.01%

McDonald's Corp

1,896

1,802

261

$192.40

$207.27

$205.33

$0.00

0.00%

Harley-Davidson Inc

7,541

20,069

 

$28.00

$26.00

 

$0.00

0.01%

ON Semiconductor Corp

 

13,519

10,916

 

$21.09

$22.27

$0.00

0.00%

Leidos Holdings Inc

 

 

4,177

$0.00

$0.00

$88.43

$0.00

0.00%

Polaris Inc

1,000

 

2,000

$91.71

 

$96.50

$0.00

0.01%

Reliance Steel and Aluminum Co

   

2,466

   

$100.00

$0.00

0.00%

BWX Technologies Inc

3,887

405

500

$46.58

$57.75

$54.99

$0.00

0.00%

Commerce Bancshares Inc

609

1,757

496

$57.29

$60.02

$55.83

$0.00

0.00%

Intercontinental Exchange Inc

1,503

73

 

$93.75

$96.66

 

$0.00

0.00%

Ball Corp

 

1,618

   

$69.49

 

$0.00

0.00%

Ametek Inc

 

764

 

 

$94.95

 

$0.00

0.00%

Extra Space Storage

600

   

$90.81

   

$0.00

0.00%



 

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