Tariffs and economic uncertainty haven’t slowed corporate America’s obsession with stock buybacks.
The practice — which reduces a company’s shares outstanding and helps boost earnings per share — hit a record-setting $165.63 billion in July, 88% higher than the previous peak in July 2007, according to new data from Birinyi Associates.
Year-to-date buybacks now stand at $926.1 billion, $108 billion ahead of the previous year-to-date record set in 2022.
“Corporate America continues to be one of the largest buyers of U.S. stocks and from their actions continues to have confidence in their business, despite unsettling tariff headlines,” the Birinyi team wrote.
The top three sectors of the S&P 500 (^GSPC) for buyback activity this year include Financials (XLF), Technology (XLK), and Communication Services (XLC). These three sectors have repurchased $689 billion of their stocks in 2025. Utilities (XLU) has been the most cautious repurchaser with $55 billion.
July saw several large buyback announcements as markets climbed to records, Birinyi noted.
JPMorgan (JPM) took pole position by announcing a $50 billion buyback as regulators have relaxed capital requirements for big banks. Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) announced $40 billion and $20 billion buybacks, respectively.
Meanwhile, third quarter standouts include Meta (META) ($10.6 billion), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) ($13.6 billion), and Microsoft (MSFT) ($4.5 billion).
Corporate America’s love for share buybacks appears to be coming at the expense of handing out richer dividend checks to shareholders.
Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said in fresh research that S&P 500 dividend yields are now within just 20 basis points of their all-time low, last reached during the tech bubble in 2000.
But Reid noted companies may be putting shareholder capital at risk by buying back stock with markets at all-time highs and economic uncertainty elevated.
“Buybacks tend to occur more at market tops than bottoms, meaning companies often buy high, not low,” Reid said.
Shareholders enjoying the rapid pace of buybacks should keep a few things in mind as well, Reid explained.
One, buybacks are much more discretionary and can vanish overnight in a downturn. Two, buybacks inflate EPS without necessarily improving true profitability. Three, buybacks may reduce investment in the business, especially if used to help meet executive compensation targets or earnings guidance.
“I do care about dividends, and I like to see dividends on the stocks in our portfolios,” Crossmark chief market strategist Victoria Fernandez told me on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid. “And so I think investors should be paying attention to this. It helps provide a little bit of a buffer to the volatility that you see in the marketplace.”
