The amount of shares repurchased by S&P 500 companies in the last quarter of 2018 reached a record high. The total value surged to $806.4 billion in 2018, up 55 percent from a year earlier, according to new data from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The record was more than 36 percent higher than the previous high-water mark hit in 2007.
This marked the fourth consecutive quarterly all-time high. Many of the biggest companies in America went on shopping sprees for their own shares, including Apple and Oracle Corp., both of which bought back roughly $10 billion worth of stock.
One reason for the record was the slide in global markets late in the year. The fourth quarter’s overall stock price decline permitted companies to buy up even more shares for their dollars.
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