Apple $AAPL is the stock buyback king of tech giants.
The company spent a total of $621 billion buying its own shares between 2013 and 2023. For reference, Google $GOOGL parent Alphabet spent about one third of that figure on its stock over the same period. Over the last fiscal year, Apple doled out $78 billion to buy 456 shares of its stock, reducing its number of outstanding shares by about 2%.
“Given what’s feasible, Apple’s buyback program is actually quite impressive,” wrote James Brumley of the stock investing and stock market research site Motley Fool.
Buyback programs reduce the number of a company’s shares in circulation, which then raises an investor’s stake and their return on future dividends. While investors’ views on share buyback programs are mixed — some companies use them to artificially boost their stock price — stock repurchases executed by companies with competent leadership are usually a good thing. Bankrate’s James Royal writes that “properly executed stock repurchases are one of the best and lowest-risk ways to create value for shareholders.”
Google parent Alphabet demonstrated the potential value of such programs to the world last week. Google shares shot up 14% on news that its board approved $70 billion in stock buybacks as well as its first-ever dividend, not to mention its strong first-quarter earnings report.
Apple will report earnings on Thursday after the bell. The tech giant’s share price rose 3% to $174 in morning trading after investment firm Bernstein upgraded its rating of the stock to a strong buy.