S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today that preliminary results show that S&P 500 Q2 2015 stock buybacks, or share repurchases, decreased 8.7% to $131.6 billion, down from the $144.9 billion posted in Q1 2015. Year-over-year comparison shows that share repurchases have increased 13.2% over the $116.2 billion reported during the second quarter of 2014.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices:

• The $131.6 billion Q2 spend represents an 8.7% decrease from the $144.1 billion spent during Q1 2015, and a 13.2% increase over the expenditure of Q2 2014.

• For the 1-year period ending June 2015, S&P 500 issues increased their buyback expenditures by 3.8% to $553.5 billion from $533.0 billion posted in the prior 12-month period.

• For the sixth consecutive quarter, over 20% of the S&P 500 issues reduced their year-over-year diluted share count by at least 4%, therefore boosting their earnings-per-share (EPS) by at least 4%.

• The buyback high mark quarter was reached in Q3 2007, when companies spent $172.0 billion.

• The recession quarterly buyback low point was $24.2 billion, recorded in Q2 2009.

• Total shareholder return, dividends plus buybacks, set a 12-month record, at $923.3 billion.

"Companies continue to use buybacks to add to their EPS at a time when EPS growth has become the center of attention for investors," says Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "The current share count status is that for each of the past six quarters, over 20% of the index membership has used share count reduction to significantly increase EPS by at least 4% in their year-over-year comparisons."

Additionally, S&P Dow Jones Indices' data shows:

• More issues reduced their share count this quarter than last, with 307 doing so in Q2, up from 299 in Q1, and 295 in Q2 2014.

• Significant changes (generally considered 1% or greater for the quarter) remained strong, but did not materially change for the second consecutive quarter, as 115 issues reduced their share count by at least 1%, compared to last quarter's 116, and the 126 in Q2 2014.

• Share count reduction change impacts of at least 4% (Q2 2015 over Q2 2014), which can be seen in EPS comparisons, were a tick up at 105 in Q2 from 104 in Q1 and down from the 116 posted in Q2 2014.

Total Shareholder Returns:

Silverblatt notes that total shareholders' returns, through regular cash dividends, as well as buybacks, decreased to $226.0 billion or 4.9% over the $237.7 billion of Q1 2015, but was still 11.4% higher than the $202.8 billion reported in Q2 2014. For the trailing 12-month period, companies returned $923.34 billion in buybacks and dividends to investors, up from $900.2 billion in Q1, and setting a new 12-month record.

Silverblatt stated that cash reserves bulked up during the second quarter as S&P 500 Industrial (Old) available cash and equivalent increased to $1.32 trillion, from the first quarter's $1.23 trillion, and was just a tick under the record $1.33 trillion set at the end of 2014. 

"Higher levels of shareholder return are now part of the market expectation, with many investors anticipating continued high payouts," comments Silverblatt. "While companies currently have the resources and low-cost access to funds to continue this trend, once interest rates increase, the higher costs will eventually influence the decision making process for corporate expenditures. Buybacks may be more susceptible to an interest rate hike, given that they are more discretionary and dividend cutbacks are typically seen as a last resort action.  Based on the current data, the Q3 actual dividend payment is expected to be the sixth consecutive quarter of new record payments, with Q4 2015 expected to be the seventh."

Sectors:

On a sector basis, Information Technology continued to dominate buybacks as their percentage of the Q2 buybacks increased to 27.9% from 24.3% in Q1. Energy was again noticeably lower, declining to 2.7% of buybacks ($3.5 billion) from 3.8% ($5.5 billion) the first quarter and 7.5% ($8.7 billion) in the second quarter of last year, as lower share prices and more prudent spending have impacted the sector. Consumer Staples posted a 28.8% drop, as Consumer Discretionary posted a 17.4% increase over their first quarter expenditure.

For the quarter Apple continued to lead with $10.0 billion spent on share repurchases, up 43.5% from their $7.0 billion Q1 expenditure – the eighth largest posted by an index issue in buybacks history (Apple also owns the first, second and third positions).  Express Scripts came in second with $5.5 billion, after buying back zero shares in the first quarter, followed by QUALCOMM with $5.4 billion, up from $1.9 billion. AbbVie, and Microsoft, rounded out the top-five buyback spenders.  Exxon Mobile ranked 28^th, with $1.0 billion, compared to $3.0 billion in the Q2 2014, when it ranked third.