NEW YORK, March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today that preliminary results show that S&P 500^® fourth quarter 2014 stock buybacks, or share repurchases, decreased 8.7% to $132.6 billion down from the $145.2 billion spent on share repurchases during the third quarter of this year. Historical S&P 500 buyback data can be found at: www.spdji.com/indices/equity/sp-500.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices:

• The $132.6 billion Q4 spend represents a 2.5% increase from the $129.4 billion spent during the fourth quarter of 2013.
• For fiscal year 2014, S&P 500 issues increased their buyback expenditures by 16.3% to $553.3 billion from $475.6 billion posted in 2013.
• The high mark was reached in 2007, when companies spent $589.1 billion.
• The recession low point was $137.6 billion, recorded in 2009.

"Share count reduction continues to be the market takeaway," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "It has significantly increased earnings-per-share (EPS) for 20% of the index issues in each of the past four quarters. While fourth quarter expenditures were down 8.7%, the number of issues reducing their share count by at least 4% year-over-year, and therefore increasing their EPS by at least that amount, continues to be in the 20% area – a significant level."

Additionally, S&P Dow Jones Indices data shows:

• More issues reduced their share count this quarter than last, with 308 doing so in Q4, up from 257 in Q3 and 276 in Q4 2013.
• Significant changes (generally considered 1% or greater for the quarter) continued to strongly favor reductions, and also increased, as 117 issues reduced their share count by at least 1%, compared to last quarter's 101 and the 112 which did so in Q4 2013.
• Share reduction change impacts of at least 4% (Q4 2014 over Q4 2013), which can be seen in EPS comparisons, were flat at 99 in Q4 2014 from Q3, but up from the 83 posted in Q4 2013.

Total Shareholder Returns:

Silverblatt also notes that total shareholders' returns, through regular cash dividends, as well as buybacks, continues to increase and set records. For the year ended December 2014, buyback and dividend expenditures combined, reached a new record high of $903.7 billion, up from the $787.4 billion spent in 2013.

"While the $350.4 billion in dividends for the year set a record, the $553.3 billion in buybacks, which represents 61.2% of the total shareholder return, failed to reach the 2007 buyback bonanza heyday high of $589.1 billion," comments Silverblatt.

Silverblatt stated that issues had a record amount of cash reserves at the end of 2014, and that Q1 2015 cash dividends are on its way to post yet another record quarter, after its record 2014 payment.

"The shareholder return trend has been strong and appears to be increasing," adds Silverblatt. "Based on the recent bank declarations 2015 may easily be another record year for dividends, potentially, its fifth consecutive annual double-digit gain. Depending on the market, it may be a record year for buybacks as well."

Sectors:

On a sector basis, Information Technology continued to dominate buybacks, although its percentage of the Q4 2014 buybacks declined to 24.2% from last quarter's 29.6%.  The decline of $10.9 billion can be attributed to Apple, which purchased $5 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $17 billion in the third quarter.

For the year, Apple led the Index with a record setting $45 billion in purchases, up 73.5% from its $25.9 billion 2013 purchases.  Exxon Mobile came in a distant second, at $13.2 billion, down 17.6% from its 2013 $16 billion expenditure, with Intel coming in third, spending $10.8 billion, significantly up from its 2013 $2.1 billion expenditure.

For more information, please visit www.spdji.com

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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices